Tickle button

Wednesday night I really needed to get some work done. Paying bills, balancing the check book, and school work filled my evening schedule. Jairus came into the computer room to visit with me and distract me. I took some time to tickle and wrestle with him. After about 10 minutes of laughing, I told Jairus that I had to get back to work and so “my tickle button is off.” Without missing a beat, Jairus walked up to me, gently touched my wrist like it was a button, and said “it’s back on.”

So guess what, we tickled some more. How can you say no to that?

Do that again

So, Jairus is a kid who likes repetition. If you know Jairus, you know that. Well, almost daily we end up playing some type of little verbal volley match. This morning it was kisses. As we snuggled waking up I gave him a kiss, he kissed me back, I fake kissed him and he returned it. Over and over we did this. The other night he wanted juice to drink, but it was kinda late, so I told him he could have water. He said “no juice.” I said, “no water.” “No juice” Jairus responded. “Water” “Juice” Waaattteerrr” “Juuuiiiccceee” If I whisper, he whispers. Whatever tone I use, he repeats. Jairus will do this game with me lots. It is cute and entertaining for a bit…but eventually, I tire of it. Jairus on the other hand, doesn’t. When I stop he sweetly entreats me “let’s do that again!” Oh my!

Eight

This last month Jairus and I have gone to a few basketball games at school. I could have made money on funniest home videos if I had a video camera at the middle school games a few weeks ago. Jairus enjoyed cheering for the eagles, as always. But the best part of the evening was watching Jairus’ keen sense of observation. From our front row seats (where Jairus could run around on the floor/sideline) Jairus had an eagle eye on one referee. I tell you, when the referee called a jump ball, Jairus immediately threw up his hands too. He pretended to hand kids the ball, he signaled free throws, he even ran backwards. Whatever the ref did, Jairus was just a second behind him. It was funny and surprisingly drew attention from many people in the crowd. Jairus was entertaining.

At home Jairus sometimes runs back and forth in the living room “playing” basketball. Recently he told me that he is number 8. I asked him what he means (b/c his favorite number is 3). He pointed to his back and said “here, number 8 here.” At the last game I checked, and the eagles do not have a number 8 yet…maybe in 10 or 12 years! :)

Green

If you spend much time with Jairus, you will quickly learn that green is his favorite color. It comes up with almost every conversation – from what he wears, to what he eats, to what toys he plays with and the list could go on. But what is also pretty cool is that he is curious to what YOUR favorite color is too. He will ask and more impressively, he remembers.

His teacher told me that EVERY TIME they do something with colors at school, he tells them that green is his favorite color, purple is mommy’s favorite and orange is daddy’s favorite color.

He can tell you that yellow is Mamaw’s favorite, but blue is both Papaw’s and Uncle Tony’s favorite. Actually blue is a popular favorite color. It is claimed by Deron, and a couple guys who work with Joe. Actually, Matt and Don didn’t know they needed a favorite color until Jairus was in the office and asked them. Matt had Jairus guess. Jairus correctly guessed blue. Surprised, Matt asked Jairus how he knew that. He responded, “Your shirt is blue.” Ah yes, good logic.

Tuesday will be a busy day!

It was Friday night and Jairus was told that he needed to take a bath. His response: On Tuesday... I’ll take a bath on Tuesday. Later in the evening he was instructed to pick up his toys. His response: I can pick up toys on Tuesday. A few minutes later, he was told it was time to brush his teeth and guess his response…. “on Tuesday.” Funny! We did get him to take a bath, pick up toys, and brush his teeth on Friday, but it just a bit more consuming.

So Saturday morning he started again! Anything he was asked to do, he said he would do it on Tuesday. It was so funny! At one point I said, “Oh, it is Tuesday now.” Jairus looked straight at me and answered “no its not!.” :) Oh smarty pants!

Tuesday will be a very busy, busy day!

Problem Solving

This story starts last night when Jairus and Joe returned home from Dallas. As I was helping Jairus out of the truck, I asked him where he had been all day. His response: “Playing with Mamaw.” I proceeded to ask him what they played. “I helped Mamaw play Bubbles on the computer,” he answered. Interesting. I have no idea what he is talking about, but sounds nice. Then our conversation moved on to dinner and other mundane items.

As I was checking facebook and playing Sudoku this morning (I could do that since we were home for an “ice” day), Jairus asked to play Bubbles on the computer. Since I had no idea what he was talking about, I told him “not right now.” A bit later, he asks me again. I told him that I don’t know what that was and explained that next time we see Mamaw we’ll have to ask. “Well” he says (which BTW, that is his recent favorite word and he says it like a true southerner…Weeelllllllllllll) as he trots out of the computer room. He quickly returns with his own camera and then SHOWS ME PICTURES that he took yesterday at Mamaw’s of the Bubbles game!


Now is that good problem solving or what? Unfortunately I still didn’t know what it was. Looked kinda like a tetras game. By asking Mamaw we learned that it is called Aqua Bubbles. Good news – I have now googled it! :) But now he wants to play green ovals. Looks like I have a problem to solve! :)

Sharing CHRISTmas

VeggieTales merged with real life this morning.

Jairus practically has the newest VeggieTale movie, Saint Nicholas – a Story of Joyful Giving, memorized since he has watched it every day since his birthday. I don’t want to give away the story, but part of it applies to today.

As a young man, Nicholas sails the world trying to find something that will make him happy. Eventually he ends up at the Nativity Chapel in Bethlehem. There he meets a nun who is giving food to the poor. Nicholas asks if feeding the poor makes her happy. She replies that she does it because she is happy. She goes on to explain that she can love because God loves her and she can give because God gave. Well, Nicolas gets it! He then goes on to give because God gave (part of the legend of Santa Clause). Of course, you should watch the whole movie. The VeggieTales add song, dance, and humor to make the story enjoyable and catchy.

So, back to my point. Today VeggieTales merged with real life. This morning, our family took part in delivering gifts and food boxes with the Sharing CHRISTmas ministry of our church. For the last several years we have purchased gifts as part of the ministry. The last couple of years, Joe helped deliver gifts – he is especially needed because of his Spanish skills. But this year we felt like Jairus was old enough that we could also be part of the delivery teams. We explained to Jairus that we were being like Saint Nicholas – we were giving because God loves us and gave to us. Jairus helped at each house carrying in the red gift bag filled with a Bible, devotional book, and information about the church. He also helped us put gifts under the trees. Our family delivered gifts and food boxes to 3 of the 52 families “adopted” by our church.

At our church, CHRISTmas actually starts several months before now. In the late summer/early fall the church starts to collect peanut butter and jelly, cake mixes, and other items to put into food boxes. Then after Thanksgiving the church members have the opportunity to “adopt” kids by buying a couple of Christmas gifts for them. The Sharing CHIRSTmas committee gets names and information of kids in need from the local elementary schools. It is a huge undertaking to have everything organized and done in such a way to protect the families involved. This year it meant providing for 170 children in our area!

I don’t blog about this to brag on us or even really our church. It was just a neat few hours we spent this morning as a family. It was honestly refreshing. I wouldn’t be disappointed at all if this became a Christmas tradition for us. It is pretty cool when the 3 of us can all serve together. It is a great way to remember and put into the practice the truth Jairus sings about with VeggieTales…. “I can love because God loves me. I can give because God gave.”