Why, why, why (and a little how)

Little Mr. A is a curious fellow. Whenever we read or watch anything, and I do mean anything, he wants to know why or what or how. But usually it’s why. 

If we are reading about bees, he wants to know what's happening, the why of what's happening and the why and how of the why. Once we read that bees eat nectar, and explain what nectar is, he wants to know why they eat nectar ("because that is what they like to eat."), why they like it, etc. If we are looking at a book about painting a wall, he wants to know why the wall is being painted ("because it needs it"), why it needs it ("to protect it"), what to protect it from ("getting ruined by the weather"), why the weather ruins it (wanting to move on "that's just the way it works"), "Nana, why that's the way it works," then why it's being painted that color ("because that is the color they liked"), why they liked it, etc.

When we have scriptures and it is their turn to “read,” the boys repeat the words of their verse after someone reads the verse a few words at a time. Then the adult stops to explain what happened in the verse or what something means.

Yesterday in scripture time 1 Nephi 10:12 was his verse (in case you want to follow along):

Me:  Yea, even my father . . .

A: Yea, even my father what just happened? (Honest- not even a pause where you could imagine any punctuation between the two phrases)

Me: Nothing yet . . . . spake much . . . .

A: spake much now what happened?

Me: Nothing, he’s just explaining that his father was talking a lot. . . .concerning . . .

A:  concerning what happened now?

Me: He's still just talking. . . . the Gentiles . . .

A:  what the Gentiles gonna do?

Me: (Prompting) . . . .the Gentiles . . .

A:  the gentiles what they doing?

And so on. Through the ENTIRE verse. Nothing ever really happened in the verse, but he never gave up hope. I could hardly get a word out before he would ask what had happened. It got harder and harder to hide my amusement and I almost lost it when I could tell that J was starting to think it was a little funny. But we made it through the verse. We will finish chapter 10 tonight.

And we're back . . .

Camp Grand Nana is up and running again in Kohler. We've been at it a few days and things have been mostly as expected- challenges mixed with surprisingly smooth times, three panic times and multiple teary 'he's being mean to me' times followed by giggly, romping heaps of brothers.


Here are a few of the things we have done:



'Eaten' lots of apples (they showed up later, trimmed and chunked in an apple salad).

Glow sticks before breakfast (whole-wheat chocolate, chocolate chip muffins)

 

A cocoa party, with little kitty pitchers and tiny cocoa cups

 

 

Home made window clings

Dual nappers after 4 days of no nappers

Desperate times call for desperate measures when your two favorite laps are out of the country!

More to come later.

Good morning, Kohler!

Last night went so much better than expected! Nana is working hard to not get her hopes up too much, but a repeat would be nice.

Mostly ordinary stuff today. Glow sticks, meal times, play times, snack times, resting time, meltdown times, rollicking-frolicking times. The usual stuff. But overall, a tolerable day.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way. No kidding!

Trivial tidbit of the day: If you put a glow stick in the freezer, it still glows a little bit the next morning. In case you were wondering.

Tidbit #2: If a cat’s favorite man is out of town and his favorite woman is no where to be found, suddenly a Nana’s lap will look absolutely perfect.

Oh, Mama!

Today is day one without Mama. We worked really hard to stay on our regular schedule but managed to get to bed a little late anyway.

Today's score:

Blood- none

Snot- plenty

Insanity- so far, so good!

Events of the Day:

Played with glowsticks while it was still a little dark in the morning. The camera compensated for the dark, but you get the idea.

Ate waffles

Did dishes and swept floor

Played indoors

Snacked.

Purchased a prize toy from Mama’s prize box

Napped, practiced writing name, played Peggle

Played outside

Went for walk.

Made milkshakes, talked to Mama

Played racing, searching, rescuing game in the sunny front hallway.

Played some more

Ate dinner and cleaned kitchen

Played with balloons while Nana ate dinner

Took a shower, had scriptures, songs and stories

Went to bed

Cutest thing heard today (Explained to me during a break in a rambunctious, giggly, bouncy goof-off session they had)

"We just can't have fun without Mama. It's not fun without Mama."

Sweet.