A Wife of His Own

When you ask a child what excites him about growing older you often hear responses like,

- staying up late

- going to school

- getting a driver's license

- moving out

- or having children (if you're talking to a young girl)

Owen often talks with excitement about being a husband when he's older. We don't prompt him, he just shares what he's thinking about. Tonight at bed time he prayed, "Thank you, God, that when I get older I can have a wife of my own."

Proverbs 18:22 says, "He who finds a wife finds a good thing." I hope my son will one day find such a good thing. I thank God that Owen already, in his childish mind, sees a wife as a "good thing" to thank God for.

If You Could Ask for One Thing

To prepare for today's Bible lesson on King Solomon I asked the kids this question, "If you could ask God for anything and knew you would get it, what would you ask of him?" Owen thought for a moment and replied, "I'd ask for a cheetah." Aubrey didn't think about it at all. She quickly answered, "I'd ask for food!" If you know my Aubrey girl, you know how true her answer is.

I then went on and told them what Solomon asked for . . . wisdom. And I prayed over them, that God would make all of us wise.

"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him." James 1:5

My girls look so funny in this picture!

Kids Say the Funniest Things

The day isn't even half over and yet these are some of the funny things I've heard already.

While pulling into the parking lot of the bookstore this morning Aubrey raised her hand and said, "Now Owen, I want you to be a good boy in the store. That means no running and don't touch anything."

Owen replied, "I know. And don't forget, Aubrey, that we don't say the word 'stupid' and we don't pick our noses!"

As we are walking into the store Owen notices the red bucket by the doorway with a man standing nearby shaking a bell. He asked, "Mama, what's that man doing out here?"

"He is collecting money for the poor," I answer.

"Well, you know, the Bible says that lazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth."

We go into the book store and Aubrey sits down with a book and starts "reading." Each story began with, "Once upon a time everybody used the potty."

Before we even headed out the door this morning Aubrey had me laughing. She was telling me that God made the birds. God made her. God made everything. I asked her, "Aubrey, why did God make you?" She responded with, "Because he was just messing around."

Owen's Birthright

Earlier this week I was reading to Owen the Bible story of Esau and Jacob. I explained that because Esau was the oldest son he had the birthright which meant he would get most of the money and property when his daddy died (until he gave it to his brother, Jacob). Owen immediately responded with, "Since I'm the oldest, if daddy dies I will get all of his books!"

Books are kind of a big deal in our family. In fact, the first time my grandma visited our home she said she thought she had walked into a library. So far, our kids share our love for reading so you can imagine Owen's excitement at the thought of inheriting hundreds and hundreds of books. I texted Ben and told him about my conversation with Owen. In his reply he told me to tell Owen that he would share his books with Owen now and that we could refer to them as "their" books. When I read the text to Owen he jumped out of his chair, threw his arms in the air, raised his eyebrows and yelled "YAY!!!"

A couple of days later Ben came home and Owen was quick to remind him that he said he'd share his books. You have to be careful what you tell this kid because he doesn't forget easily!

This morning Ben agreed to do the Bible lesson with Owen. During the review time Owen said, "Daddy, Esau had the birthright so he would have gotten all of his daddy's books!" Books, apparently, have more value to Owen then money or land.

This whole exchange is actually interesting because just a few weeks ago I asked Ben (privately, not in the presence of our children) what he would want me to do with all of his books should something happen to him. Would he want me to donate them to a church? Pass them on to a friend in ministry? Sell them? Box them up and carry them with me for the rest of my life? Ben answered that he wanted me to save them for Owen. Therefore, it pleased me when Owen, all on his own, thought that HIS birthright would be daddy's books and that those books were enough to excite him.

I do hope that some day Owen loves to read on his own. I'd love to see him read not just any books, but Ben's books - books written by theologians and men of God. Of course, I'm hoping he'll be borrowing Ben's books and that Ben will be with us for many, many, many more years!

So Different. So very, very different.

Tonight while my two oldest children were in their beds I stood in the hallway and listened to their conversation. The first part made my heart swell. The second part made me shake my head. Here's what I heard:

Owen: "Aubrey, I'm really sad. Can you please try to make me happy?"

Aubrey: "Quit your whining, Owen."

Out of the Mouth of Owen

He looks more and more like a man every day.

If you're on facebook you've probably read most of these already:

"Mama, I'm not going to do bad things anymore! Well, let me do this one bad thing first." And then he made this annoying spitting noise I'm constantly asking him not to make.

Walking around with his New Testament like he's reading it he says, "This says to be kind. I will be nice to Aubrey."

In church as the choir is singing he says in frustration, "I can't understand what they are singing! I don't know the words!"

During church he started flipping through his Bible and said, "What page are we on?!"

A few days after Ben went skydiving Owen said, "When I grow up I want to be a Dad and jump out of an airplane!"

While he and Aubrey were playing together in another room I overhead him say, "Since ladies are supposed to go first, Aubrey, we are going to pretend that you're a boy and I'm a girl for this game. So I have to go first."

We were walking out the door to go to church when I said, "Let's hit the road Jack!" Without missing a beat he replied, "Okay, Bill!" (He doesn't even know anyone by the name of Bill.

"Mommy, girls don't have a penis and boys don't wear slippers."

Owen loves to sing Victory in Jesus. Instead of singing "he plunged me" he says, "he punched me to victory . . ."

When he was fighting a terrible stomach bug he had really bad diarrhea. He looked in the toilet and said, "This is diculous!" (ridiculous).

After watching a math program he says, "Mama, they just said that when you put a one and another one together you get two. But that's not true. Two ones together make eleven."

Owen: "Mommy, I want you to ask me what a spaceship is."

Me: "Okay. Owen, what is a spaceship?"

Owen: "I have NO IDEA!"

Out of the Mouth of Aubrey

So far I've only done posts about things Owen says. It appears that I need to start a new chapter, "Out of the Mouth of Aubrey." My one and a half year old is very verbal for her age. She's never quiet. On our way down to Florida she rode in my sister's van for a while. I called my sister to ask how Aubrey was doing and she said something to the effect of, "She's fine but she doesn't stop talking." That's my girl! She knows hundreds of words and will say anything you tell her to say. She will also repeat things you don't want her to repeat. While talking to someone on the phone I said, "That's crazy!" From the other room Aubrey pipes in, "Yeah! That's crazy, Mommy!" Here are some of the most memorable things she has said recently: **"I want to get out." She says this every morning when she wakes up and every time we got back into the car from taking a potty break on our way to Florida. **She responds with, "Dank you" anytime you do anything for her - from putting her shoes on, changing her diaper, giving her lunch, etc. The best part is that she addresses the person she is thanking. For example, as I'm typing this Owen helped her with something so she said, "Dank you, Owen." I love that she uses our names. It sounds so polite. **"I want Daddy" I hear this countless times every.single.day. **"I have to go potty." When we were at the pool at our resort the older kids were allowed to go to the bathroom by themselves since it was close by. They just had to let an adult know they were going. Aubrey picked up on this very quickly. One day I noticed her walking away. I called out to her and she turned around and yelled from the distance, "Mommy! I have to go potty!" and then turned back around and proceeded to walk toward the bathroom. **"I want to carry you." - this means she wants me to carry her. **Any time I tell her not to touch something, even if it's the computer, she asks, "Is it hot?" **"Love you." **"See ya" as she leaves one room to go to another. **"Aw-bee" when asked her name. She even says her last name clearly! **"Bless you, Mommy" whenever I sneeze. **"I want to go outside!" I hear this so much. It makes me very anxious for warm weather. **"Gah may me." when asked who made her. **"Excuse me!" She says this while running around the house with her baby stroller. **"Excuse you." She says this anytime you cough, blow your nose, burp, etc. **"Okay, Mommy." She says this in the sweetest voice when I ask her to do something and she's in the mood to quickly obey. **"Mommy! It's a B" She said this while pointing to the bottom of a chapstick and sure enough there was the letter B. So I said, "What does the letter B say?" And she replied, "Buh." I have no idea where she picked that up, but she says it every time. She can also tell me what sound the letter A makes. **She is pretty generous with her kisses except lately when Mommy asks for one she says, "No, kisses, Mommy. No kisses." **She still eats pretty much anything (except fast food. She hates chicken nuggets, fries, etc) but she can also clearly communicate what she wants to eat. **She sings Jesus Loves Me really well. You can't necessarily make out all the words but enough so that it's obvious what she is singing. **Since my children were born I have sung a song to them that I made up. They affectionately call it the "Nighty Night" song. She sings this song all by herself to her baby and to Owen. Sometimes she will put her baby in Owen's bed, turn on the fan and sing the song. This is our routine. The other day at nap time Owen went and got in bed. She covered him up, turned on the fan and began to scratch his back and sing to him. He loved it and so did I! **On the other hand when I tell her it's time to go to bed and she's not ready to, she says, "No-No, night-night."

Sweet Innocence

This morning over breakfast Owen began talking about his Grandpa Rademacher. He loves that they both can do silly things with their toes - point, pick things up, etc. So as he was giving me a "thumbs up" with his big toes he began to talk about Grandpa. The conversation went like this:
O: "Mommy, Grandpa is your daddy. right?"
M: "Right!"
O: "But who is your Mommy?"
M: Thinking he would remember I said, "You know who my Mommy is."
O: "Grandma Glupker?" he asked.
M: "No. That's Daddy's Mommy. My Mom's name was Grandma Cindy."
O: "How come she doesn't come see us? Is she mad at us?"
M: "Oh, no! She's not mad at us. She is in Heaven with Jesus!"

It always amazes me what goes through the mind of my three year old.

Out of the Mouth of Owen

- "Mommy, when Aubrey gets bigger she can have a husband and then take a shower all by herself." (Owen often showers with Ben. And since I shower alone my guess is that he thinks that's just what wives do).
- "I don't like spaghetti and I don't want it for dinner. I'll like it when I'm 5, not when I'm just 3."
- It was time for bed and Ben said, "Do you know what time it is?" Owen broke out in song and sang, "Time to sit in my chaaaair!"
- "Cock-a-lock-a-doo!"
- During prayer at lunch, "Thank you God that Mommy's not eating." I made the kids lunch, but not myself.
- I have been having some great talks with Owen about sin. He has even been able to give examples of his own sin. One night he kept getting out of bed because he was super excited that Daddy was home from work. I reminded him what sin is and told him that his disobedience was sin. He answered, "But Mommy, doggy and kitty said to me" and then he whispered, "Owen - get out of your bed." (Doggy and Kitty are his imaginary pets)
- The other night at dinner Owen didn't want to eat. His excuse? "My voice is tired."
- We read a lot and it's entertaining to hear Owen use words that he picks up from books. Lately he's been saying, "By and by . . . " and "And so it happened . . . "
- We put together a box for Operation Christmas Child after we talked with Owen about how there are poor children around the world. We showed him a video of a little girl without any toys and how we wanted to do something nice for her. Later that night he said in a very sad voice, "There's little boys with no mommy, no daddy, no toys and no toothbrushes."
- Owen prays specifically. At meal time he will thank God for each item of food by name. One night I made Chicken Parmesan. He didn't know what it was called so he prayed, "Thank you, God for our broccoli, our bread and this stuff."
- He loves to tell stories. One story he told last week started this way, "One day Grandma Glupker told Uncle Michael, 'Michael, go change your clothes, get your gun and get outside.'" I don't know where this came from - I don't think any of the Glupkers even own a gun!
- "Mommy, I sure am glad that God gave me Will." (Will is the little boy I babysit)

Things I Don't Correct

There are a few words that Owen mispronounces that I don't correct. He's growing up so fast the way it is, I'm not rushing it. He'll figure out the correct pronunciations on his own eventually (I use the words correctly when I speak them). For now, I just chuckle and smile when he says the following things:
"Swanwich" = Sandwich
"Bamilla" = Vanilla (he loves vanilla yogurt)
"Part of Me" = Pardon me
"Grocery Mile" = Grocery aisle
"Semmary" - Seminary
"Mr. Buhgregor" = Mr. McGregor (as in The Tale of Peter Rabbit)
"Alligator" = Elevator
"Oh my josh" = Oh my gosh (which he is not allowed to say. He's only allowed to say "oh my word" but when he's being defiant his way of talking back is to say "Oh my josh." So, this one I DO correct!)

Owen's Answers

I came across a list of 21 questions to ask your child. I thought it would be fun to interview Owen and record his answers. Here it is:
1. What is something Mommy always says to you? "You're silly" or "Let's go to the park!"
2. What makes Mommy happy? "When I wake up." (I'm assuming he said this because I always get on me knees, smile and give him a 'good morning hug and kiss' when he wakes up and tell him I'm happy to see him.)
3. What makes Mommy sad? "When I sleep." (I guess if I'm happy when he's awake then it would follow that I'm sad when he's asleep - except that I'm not!)
4. How does Mommy make you laugh? "You do this" and then he threw his hands in the air, rolled his eyes and wiggled his body all around. (I don't do that).
5. What was Mommy like as a child? "Chili." (I think he thought I asked what I liked as a child)
6. How old is Mommy? "30" (Correct answer - didn't know he knew that!)
7. How tall is Mommy? Put his arm up and said, "You're big, but Daddy is bigger."
8. What is Mommy's favorite thing to do? "Play games."
9. What does Mommy do when you're not around? "You cry."
10. If Mommy becomes famous, what will it be for? "Baseball." (He doesn't know what the word famous means).
11. What is Mommy really good at? "Coming home from the store."
12. What is Mommy not very good at? "When you hit things. Like . . . when you hit toys, the computer, the bed, the T.V. . . ." (I think he thought I asked what things are not good to do, because I do not hit!).
13. What does Mommy do for her job? "Go to bed."
14. What is Mommy's favorite food? "Tacos."
15. What makes you proud of Mommy? " I am proud of you because I love you."
16. If Mommy were a cartoon character, who would she be? He doesn't watch cartoons so I changed the question to, "If Mommy were in one of your books, what character would I be?" And he answered, "You would be the fox because you would eat the gingerbread boy." (thanks, buddy).
17. What do you and Mommy do together? "We read."
18. How are you and Mommy the same? "We like chips."
19. How are you and Mommy different? "Your eyes are smaller than mine."
20. How do you know Mommy loves you? "You tackle me and you read books to me."
21. Where is Mommy's favorite place to go? "The Zoo."

Out of the Mouth of Owen

I know it hasn't been very long since I had one of these posts, but Owen says so many funny things that I had write another one!

- Yesterday Will asked me to read him a story. I was busy changing Aubrey so I told him I couldn't just then. The book he wanted read to him was one that Owen knows by heart. So Owen said, "Come sit on my lap, Will. I'll read it to you." And that's just what they did. Afterward Owen told him to go pick out another book. He ended up "reading" three books with Will on his lap.

- Once our kids are sleeping through the night, should they ever wake up for anything (drink, potty, etc), Ben is the one who typically takes care of it. The other night Owen woke up and I happened to be the one to hear it so I got up to see what he needed. Apparently he is used to having Daddy come in because once I got to his bed he sleepily said, "Mommy, go back to the kitchen."

- While putting Owen to bed one night he got very serious and had a confession to make. "Mommy, earlier I wiped a booger on the couch. I'm sorry."

- Owen is getting in the habit of opening doors for me. So one day a couple of weeks ago when I opened the door for him, he proudly exclaimed, "Mommy! You are SUCH a gentleman!"

- I was in the bathroom one morning doing my hair when Owen came in and said, "Mommy, what are you doing in here? You're supposed to be in the kitchen cooking."

- Owen doesn't seem to understand that nearly every dad goes to work every day leaving his family behind. Owen hates to see Ben go. Shortly after Ben went to work the other day Owen came up to me and said, "I'm not very happy with Daddy right now. He went to work without me."

- Owen was eating slowly at dinner. Because I was getting irritated I picked up his fork and offered him a bite full of food. He furrowed his brow and in a tone that sounded quite offended he said, "HEY! I'm not a baby. I'm a big boy. Don't feed me like I'm a baby."

- "When putting him to bed Owen told me he wanted to sleep with his head at the foot of his bed under his blankets. When I told him he wouldn't be able to breath he said, "That's okay. I don't want to breath."

- Today he learned the phrase, "oh shoot!" I corrected him several times and then warned him that I was going to discipline him if he said it again. Sure enough, he said it again and was disciplined. Just a minute or two later he started to say it again. He said, "OH -" and then caught my eye and remembered. So he finished with, "OH-W-E-N spells Owen!"

- I asked Owen, "Owen, who does Mommy love?" And he answered, "You love Owen." Then I asked, "Who does Owen love?" And he said, "I love Daddy."

Out of the Mouth of Owen

* Ben said something about another child and I looked up and whispered, "Ben, remember he repeats everything." Owen spoke up, "Yeah, I repeat everything!" My point exactly.

* Owen: "I want to eat dinner outside tonight.

Ben: "It's too hot tonight, son"

Owen: "It's not two hot, Daddy. It's just one hot."

* I went to go change Aubrey's poopy diaper and Owen said, "Mommy, does Aubrey have her stink on?"

* I told Owen we had to go to the grocery store. He came up with this idea: "Mommy, you go to the grocery store aallll by yourself! And I will stay here with Aubrey. I'll keep her safe."

* Owen told his little friend, "Let me tell you a story about my Uncle M." (he loves to hear stories about his Uncle Michael so he thinks everyone else does too!)

* As we were walking toward his room to go to bed, Owen held my hand and looked up at me and said, "Mama, thank you for playing with me so much today."

* "I'm Aunt Judy's buddy, Daddy's boy, Grandpa's little man, and Grandma's doll boy." (Grandma is to blame for that name). And I said, "Well, Owen, what are you to me?" He thought for a moment and said, "I'll be your dog!"

* "King David had a son named Solomon. I am Daddy's son. Solomon went to the Temple and Daddy goes to the Temple too!!!" (Ben works at a Jewish Temple)

* Aubrey didn't do something Owen wanted so I overheard him say, "Aubrey, Ephesians 6:1 says, 'Children, obey your parents!'" I stepped into the room and asked, "Owen, who are Aubrey's parents?" He replied, "Daddy, Mommy and Owen." Oh, the tears that fell when I told him he could not be Aubrey's parent.

* Owen woke up in a crabby mood the other morning so we sent him right back to bed and told him he could not get back up until 7:33, or until he was happy. It was 7:31. At 8:00 we still hadn't heard a word out of him. A few minutes later we hear crying and he said, "The three's are all gone! When can I come out?!"

* He's pretty quick to give compliments. "Your shoes are pretty, Mommy." The other day I was wearing a skirt and he said, "Mommy, those bottoms are so pretty. Let's go show Daddy. He will like it."

* I was getting my hair done last Saturday and because of some complications it took over 3 hours. Owen played patiently the entire time. As I was leaving, another customer asked me, "Is your son really just two? He told me he was two." I said, "Yes. Why?" She said, "Well, he was looking at me so I said, 'Hello.' He then came over and shook my hand and told me his name. Then I asked, 'how are you?' And he answered me and said, 'I'm fine. And how are you?'"

* When we were finished checking out books at the library I told Owen it was time to go. He yelled, "NO!" and gave me a dirty look. I dealt with him, checked out our books, left the library and as I was buckling him into his car seat he kissed my check, wrapped his arms around my neck and said, "Mommy, I'm sorry I had such a bad attitude."

Sometimes he makes me want to laugh, sometimes he makes me want to scream but he always melts my heart.

Out of the Mouth of Owen

I have a difficult time snapping a picture of Owen with a real smile on his face. Don't let the photo fool you, he's not always so serious. (The sweater you see in this picture was regularly $16.50 at Old Navy. I purchased it for $1.35! Wahoo!)

Here are some of the funny things my son said has said in recent days:

- We were singing Old McDonald Had a Farm. When it came time to say, "and on that farm he had some chickens" Owen screamed "YEAH!!! CHICKEN NUGGETS!"

- He pointed to his calf muscles and said, "These are my cow muscles."

- We were reading in the Bible one morning about how Naaman was sick with leprosy. Owen said, "Yeah, Naama throwed up." (Since having the flu he thinks all sick people puke)

- I overheard him one day saying to Aubrey, "Aubrey, can you say Kelly? Kellll-leee. You can do it, KELLY."

- Whenever he has a bowel movement, before he flushes the toilet he stands up, looks at his work, points his finger at it and yells, "Get out of here poop! I'm done with you!" (He did not learn this from me).

- When he gets really tired he often cries for Daddy, who is usually not home. Today he continued to say through his tears, "I want Ben! Where is Ben?!" (And NO, we do not allow him to call us by our first names).

- For a while Owen always referred to himself in the third person. He is getting much better about using pronouns. Tonight I told him I was going to vacuum. And he said, "Vac-me? You're going to vac-me?"

- The other day I told Owen he had to take a bath. With a look of surprise he said, "Why? Are we going to church"? (Believe it or not, he bathes even on the days we don't go to church)

- He regularly quotes his Bible verse for AWANA, which I just love to hear.

- A few days ago he told me, "Mama, I want to go grandpa's house. I want Mama, Daddy, Owen and Aubrey to get in the van and go to Grandpa's house." I asked, "What will we do at Grandpa's house?" He thought for a moment and said, "Eat canpakes (pancakes) and play with M (his Uncle)!"