Piggy Talk by Matthew

Sophism

Yesterday, Uncle Rich was dressed to the hilt in western wear. He put on his cowboy hat as Sophie walked by. She scrunched up her face and said, "You are so handsome, I can hardly stand to see you!" Uncle Rich laughed and said that he hadn't heard anyone say something like that in a long time!

Junior Toastmasters

On Tuesday, fifteen children and six moms gathered in our living room for a "Junior Toastmasters" get-together. The kids took turns climbing up our stairs to the landing and either reciting a selection from memory or reading aloud to the audience. Every child participated. A three year old girl even joyfully climbed up and when her mom asked her, "Who made you?" chimed in, "GOD!" and climbed back down. Two kids told made-up jokes. Some kids recited verses. One young girl read a short essay that she wrote herself. Other selections included a reading from Luke, a poem by Shel Silverstein, a section from a book about animals, and a dramatic reading of a picture book.

Evan read a short part from the book My Side of the Mountain. Reading it aloud has whet his appetite to read it yet again. He actually read that book clear through in first grade and has listened to it twice on tape!

Matthew read the poem "The Animal Store": "If I had a hundred dollars to spend, or maybe a little more..." (From the Golden Book of Poetry that I had as a child.)

Sophie recited Genesis 1:1-6 which we are learning as a part of our church memory program. She enjoyed playing with four other little girls and wanted to call them as soon as they left.

Each family brought a sack lunch and we ate together as well.

The boys formed two teams and staged mock battles in the basement. Some of the boys dressed up in disguises.

We got connected with this group of children starting with our congregation's VBS. I met a family with three boys the same age as our kids. We have had some "play dates" with them. We were invited to a birthday party for one of their boys recently and met many of the kids from their church. The idea of the recitation was proposed and we decided to hold it at our house. We also invited a boy from our homeschool swim class and his mom to attend.

We are looking forward to the Christmas "Manners" Tea that one of the moms is planning on hosting December 20th.

Swim Fun

The kids just started the third session of their homeschool swim class. Sometimes I swim laps during their lesson and then play with Sophie while the boys play with their friend Caleb. The boys love to build rafts out of floating mats and paddle around.

Curtains Away!

Last night when James said goodnight to Sophie, she asked him to say the nursery rhyme "Little Miss Muffet." He obliged and as he was leaving, Sophie stuck the fabric of her bed tent in her mouth and said, "Look Daddy, I'm eating my curtains away too!" (curds and whey)

Alcohol!

Yesterday, I took the kids to the doctor for Matthew and Sophie's 7 and 5 year well-child check-ups. Sophie had to get her 5 year old booster shots -- three of them. The nurse had a plastic disc with little plastic points all over it and a cut-out area for the needle. She put the disc on Sophie's arm and the points distracted Sophie from the needle poke. I've never seen that before! It worked! The booster stung, because the medication itself stings, but Sophie was brave and didn't cry at all. She was enjoying the nice nurse and later told me that she didn't want the nurse to know what she looks like when she cries.

During the vaccination process, the nurse explained to Sophie that she would wipe her arm with an alcohol wipe. Sophie exclaimed in a shocked voice, "ALCOHOL!!" ...At the recent birthday party the kids attended, some kids were chanting some little rhyme about "...baby's drinking alcohol!" I told our kids to stop repeating it and had to explain why it wouldn't be good or funny for a baby to drink alcohol. This incident might explain, however, why Sophie calls egg nog "eggohol" and her reaction to the nurse's statement. I laughed!