"How was your day ...?"

At dinner every night, we go around the table answering the questions, "How was your day today? What was your favorite part?"

Alex answered the first question with, "Good. I played with you, Will."

Will (wearing his Batman mask and cape): Was that your favorite part?

Alex: Yep!

Will: Ohhh. That's so nice! I'm going to kiss you on the cheek. (coming around the table) It's gonna tickle! (kissed Alex on the cheek)

Me to DH: That was funny!

Will: It was LOVELY.

Deep thoughts by Will

Recently, DH finally gave in to the urge to introduce our lion-obsessed child and his brother to Aslan and Narnia. So we watched part of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe with the boys. He tried to ffwd through the scary parts and was watching them closely to see if they could handle what they were watching. They seemed really interested and didn't act scared.

Alex LOVED Aslan and couldn't stop talking about him afterward.
However, when we turned off the movie, Will said, "I never want to see that movie again."
"Why?"
"Because it's too scary. It's a grown-up movie."
"Oh, I'm sorry you were scared."
"I'm just a kid, I'm only 4! I can't handle it!"

When he was getting ready for bed that night, he was worried he was going to have bad dreams. I told him we could pray that he would have only good dreams. In the morning he woke up and told me that he had good dreams and then started singing, "He's got the whole world in his hands ... he's got my dreams in his hands ..."

*****
And tonight:

Will, at dinner: My tummy hurts.
Me: I'm sorry to hear that.
Will: The world should be a story ... (pondering) The world should be a TV. And then we could be ON!
Me: That would be fun. Why do you want the world to be a story?
Will: Because then we could make it that my tummy didn't hurt. (solemnly) But the world isn't a story ... I want to dress up like a TV for Halloween.

Sweet moment "lasternight"

Last night (or "lasternight" as Will and Alex would both say), Will accidentally dropped a toy on Alex's foot. Alex started to sob and came to me for comfort. Will went over to him, took his hand, and said, "Come with me, Alex. I'll make you feel better." They walked down the hallway hand in hand (superhero capes on, of course) with Will saying, "Now hold my hand and walk slowly, I'll make you feel better."

In the midst of all the fighting, sometimes they really make me melt.

Getting energy out indoors: Color Dash

Color Dash is a simple game that  my husband made up for times when the boys are full of energy but we can't go outside. It's simple enough that once my 4-year-olds had played it with grownups a few times, they were able to do it on their own.

All you need are some small colored objects (we used some little 1-inch wooden blocks) and a bucket or other container.

Step 1: Scatter the blocks over a designated area of the floor.

Step 2: Pick a starting line and put the bucket on the floor. The players line up by the bucket.

Step 3: One kid chooses a color (they take turns), i.e. "Red!"


Step 4: The players run toward the blocks, pick up all the red blocks as fast as they can, and run back to put them in the bucket.

Repeat steps 3-4 until all the blocks are back in the bucket.

So simple and there's no winner (though of course you could give each player their own bucket and see who ends up with the most blocks if you want to go that route) but it can keep them occupied for a good 30 minutes and lets them burn off steam.

Transformers

While I was making dinner, a short blond Transformer came up to me and said quite seriously, "RC, we have a new emergency rescue thing that's gonna keep you safe. I'll show you. So come wiss me, OK?" He led me over to the secret shelter (made of blankets), then put his hand on Dad's shoulder and said in a deep voice, "Optimus Prime here is our leader from Mars."