Bedtime Conversation with Asa

Here's a part of a conversation I had with Asa at bedtime tonight....
Me: Avery is going to Carlie's house to play tomorrow and Mommy is taking you and Brynn to the Highlands (pool).
Asa: (trying to spell the way he says it) Avee's go to Collie's house. I go to da Highlands.
Me: That's right!
Asa: Bwynn's go to Emmie's house.
Me: Emmie IS Brynn's friend, but Brynn's not going to Emmie's house tomorrow. Who is ASA's friend? Whose house would YOU like to go to for a playdate one day?
Asa: Asa needs stay with MOMMY!!

That's right, baby! You just keep saying that! I'll keep you as LONG as you'll let me!

I'm FIRING the Tooth Fairy!

Bryan pulled Avery's 2nd tooth yesterday, and once again, the Tooth Fairy called and told Avery she'd be dropping by. Well.....this morning, Avery walked into my room with this downcast look on her face.
Me: What's wrong, baby?
Avery: (Holds out her tooth) She didn't leave me ANYTHING!
Me: (Panicking) Oh no, sweetheart, she must've been sooooo busy last night with all the children who lost teeth. Maybe she'll come tomorrow.
Avery: But she SAID she was going to come last night! (She's now about to cry, and it's KILLING me!)
Me: (desperate at this point!) Why don't you run get your milk out of the fridge, and then I'll go help you look around your room. (Avery leaves....Mommy improvises.....QUICK!) I go back to Avery's room.
Me: Avery, lets look and see if she left a note explaining why she didn't leave you anything. You know sometimes, she will let you keep your TOOTH, but she'll leave you a note nearby with your money in it. (AMAZINGLY, there is a folded note right beside the bed).
Avery: What's this? She opens it up and finds a golden dollar and reads the note that explains, "You can KEEP this tooth!"
Mystery solved; Avery is thrilled! It's a good thing because I was about ready to FIRE the Tooth Fairy! Whew....that was a CLOSE one!

Avery Lately....

I have been so busy lately that I haven't been very good about updating my blog. There have been some things I've been meaning to post, but I haven't gotten around to it. For starters, I have a few stories about Avery that I don't want to forget.

The other day, we had this conversation:
Avery: Mommy, I don't know who I'm gonna marry.
Me: Well, you have a WHILE before you have to decide that, but when you do, you need to make sure that he loves WHO more than anyone else?
Avery: ME!!
Me: Well, that's true, but I was talking about him loving GOD more than anything.
Avery: Like Daddy does.
Me: Yep, like Daddy. (The conversation is sweet enough at this point, but there's more.)
Avery: And he needs to know LOTS about the Bible.
Me: Yep, that'd be great too!
Avery: Well then, I know! I'll marry......Caden, because he knows LOTS about the Bible. (Caden is her friend from 4K last year, and he goes to our church.)

I am quickly learning why other moms LIMIT the number of activities their kids are involved in. I think I will have to take their lead from now on, as we are so busy with Avery right now (and we still have 2 more). She is taking ballet, which she loves, and is also involved in the Xtreme Kids Praise Team at church. She loves to sing the songs and do the motions, and I love watching her worship the Lord. She was able to lead Kids Worship a couple of Sundays ago, and this past Wednesday night, she and the rest of the Xtreme Kids Praise Team led in the BIG ROOM! She thought it was the greatest! She was in the back, so the pic is not too good, but you get the idea.


Avery has also been playing Upward Soccer. She has enjoyed it each week, but today (Game 5), it was like something clicked. She was a MACHINE out there....so aggressive and always after the ball. The coaches asked if we had "NO FEAR" tattooed on her! The highlight was when she SCORED A GOAL!!!! She immediately looked at us to see our response and came running to give us five! It was fun to see her shine and take the game seriously. In previous games, she was known to bust out in somersaults in the middle of the game, so this was a total turnaround! Some of the pictures from the game show JUST how intense she was. LOVE IT!

Check out this face...right after scoring her first GOAL!

Avery's newest obsession is Tattnall cheerleading. There are a couple of girls in her class at school who are involved in the Elementary Cheerleading program, so Avery wants to know when she can be a cheerleader too. Great time to explain how she has to CHOOSE what activities she participates in, and she chose soccer. Anyway, I am hoping that with her recent success in soccer, her interest in that sport will ultimately win out over cheerleading when she makes the choice again next fall, but we will have to see. I have to admit though, she does look pretty stinking cute in her costume when she wears it to the football games! Brynn too (with her tummy hanging over her skirt)!

Asa Milestones

This is blogworthy, and is surely something I don't want to forget. I mentioned in a previous post that Asa's first complete sentance was "I want my drink." Well...his second complete sentence occured one day during a diaper change. "That's my pee-pee." Can you believe that?

What's the Godly Thing to Do?

Tonight, the girls were sharing a pack of fruit snacks after dinner. I told them that we'd divide them evenly. Check out the following conversation....
Mommy: Who wants to pick first?
Both girls: Me, Me, Me!!
Mommy: Well, what do you think would be the GODLY thing to do?
Brynn: I want AVERY to be Godly!

More "God Talk"

A few nights ago, when we were in St. Simons, Brynn and I were lying in the bed and she looked at a shadow on the door and said,
Brynn: Mommy, that looks like a cross!
Me: Yes, it does. Do you know what happened on the cross?
Brynn: (nodding) God died.
Me: That's right. Jesus died, but did He STAY dead?
Brynn: No.
Me: What happened?
Brynn: He's sposed to eat the apple and fall down dead. Then a prince sposed to come and kiss him and wake him up!

Guess I need to work on her theology!

On the same vacation, Avery asked me, "Mommy, if God sees EVERYTHING, can He see me even if I am hiding?"

I love it when I get to answer these questions and have these discussions with the girls. What a privilege!

Avery's Birthday Party Idea

Avery came up to me the other day and told me that for her 6th Birthday Party, she wants to have a God and Jesus Party.

M: What would we do?
A: We can read the Bible and tell Bible stories and sing songs to praise God. And we can play with my instruments and learn about God.
M: What else?
A: We need white and yellow balloons.
M: Why white and yellow?
A: Because God and Jesus' dress has white and yellow on them. Oh, and the cake can have God and Jesus on it...with white icing. It will be SOOOO much fun!

Not your typical party, huh? But how can I say that to her? I LOVE the fact that she thinks learning about God and singing songs to Him would be the greatest party ever. If she still wants it, I may be trying to figure out a way to make it happen. As I type this, she said, "And you can dress up like God or Jesus...or some other Bible character. I can't wait until my 6th birthday!" I guess I'll wait and see if she sticks with it. Guess she's a party planner like her mom!

The Hour I First Believed....

June 7th was a SPECIAL day in the life of our family!! Last night, at a performance by Ballet Magnificat at our church, Avery asked Jesus to come into her heart. She sat in my lap throughout the show, and I explained to her what was going on in the story. She asked tons of questions. She was really concerned that Rahab was so sad because she didn't have Jesus in her heart. At the end, when Rahab became a believer, she realized that Jesus was what made Rahab truly happy. There were tons more questions throughout the show about where the missionaries went when they died and why they were dressed in white, and why were people not allowed to love Jesus in Russia. (The show was a modern version of the Rahab story from the Bible and was set in Communist Russia.) At the end, one of the men gave an alter call. It's funny, I could tell from the questions she was asking me all along that this had stuck a chord in her little heart and that the Holy Spirit was up to something, so I prayed right then for God to work in heart however He pleased. Then, this was the conversation...
A: Mom, what are they doing now?
M: They are letting people who want to pray come down and pray with them.
A: About what?
M: People can pray to ask Jesus into their heart, or pray for some kind of problem they are having, or just go tell them what Jesus is doing in their heart.
A: I wanna go! (gets up and starts walking...)
M: Wait, baby. Why do you want to go?
A: Because I wanna ask Jesus into my heart! (Of course I am already crying at this point)
So Bryan and I walked our baby down the isle, and Bryan led her in a prayer to receive Christ as her Savior. What a joyous day that we have prayed for since before Avery was even born!

Avery, Daddy and I are so proud of you. Our prayer is that you will always be able to look back on this night as the hour you first believed. You accepted Jesus with as much faith as a 5 year old can muster, and we know that you love Jesus more than anything in the world. I've never seen a child want to go to heaven and be with God so badly! I am thankful that you are His child, and I pray that as you grow older, He will reveal more and more of Himself to you. What a glorious day, when my child's name was written in the Book of Life!

Avery's "Pissin' Cup"

This is so funny!! Yesterday, Avery won her first trophy ever - for softball. When I told her she was getting a trophy, she said, "What's a trophy?" I told her what it was. She was really excited about getting her first trophy, but when she woke up this morning, apparently she forgot the word "trophy" since it was new to her. Instead, her conversation with Bryan this morning went something like this....
Avery: Daddy, I want my pissin' cup.
Daddy: Your WHAT?
Avery: My pissin' cup.
Daddy: WHAT did you say?
Avery: MY PISSIN' CUP!
Daddy: Where on earth did you hear that?
Avery: From CARS.
He later found out that Lighting McQueen wins a trophy in the movie CARS that is called the Piston Cup! Don't know if I'll ever want to call it a trophy again. To me, it will always be a pissin' cup!

DRAMA Don't Work on MAMA!

Yesterday, Avery pulled the funniest/saddest manipulation tactic I have ever heard her try. I took away her Resurrection Eggs for the day because of something she did to Brynn. Then, within about 10 minutes, she wanted to watch the Mrs. Pattycake Easter video and do the eggs along with it. I said no, reminding her of her punishment. She huffed off to her room, and then the REAL drama began…

Now, she was back in her room all by herself, and I heard her start ranting in this half crying/half whining voice. She was saying so much that I turned on the monitor to listen, and this is just PART of what I heard. I missed the whole beginning, and once I started listening, she said so much that I couldn't even remember it all! She was saying all of this completely to herself because I had closed the door. (I think she was hoping I'd hear it all and be so sad for her that I'd change my mind and let her play with those eggs after all!) This is some of what I actually REMEMBER hearing...(words in all caps were spoken with extra emotion.)

"I am SO SAD right now. NOBODY likes me and I don’t have ANY friends – not Carlie, Lilla, Anna, or Reagan (these are all the girls in her class @ school)....not Mommy, Brynn, Daddy, or Asa… The only person who is my friend is Baylor (her cousin)…SHE is the only person who is NICE to me because EVERYBODY else is mean to me. I wish I could go live with HER family….but THEY don’t have room for me….I wish I could just DIE and go to heaven to be with God and Jesus and all the other people that died like Pops (my grandfather) and Mrs. Patricia's dog who gotted killed in the fire (our neighbor's house caught fire last fall)…And I don’t have ANY pretty things. None of my CLOTHES are pretty. I don't have any pretty DOLLS, no pretty CLOTHES, no pretty TOYS…and I can’t even FIND my pretty lamb that I gotted for Easter" ...and on and on and on!!!!

It was COMPLETE drama from beginning to end. Needless to say, I had heard about enough when she got to the "no pretty clothes or toys" part, so I had to jump in there and have a “chat” about trying to manipulate me using this type of drama and that it WON'T work. We talked about how the things she said were not true at all, but were used to try to make me feel sorry for her and change my mind about her punishment. I told her that there are plenty of children in Africa that would love all of her toys and clothes, and if she doesn't appreciate them, I'd be glad to ship them to some children who would. We talked about how God put her in the perfect family and that if she died we would all be so sad. She got the message and was fine after some hugs and kisses (even though she still couldn't watch Mrs. Pattycake and play with the eggs).

All I could think is that I hope this isn’t a taste of the teenage years! I must confess it broke my heart to hear her say those things. But I know she didn't mean any of it, and I better get some thick skin because I'm here to be her Mom and not her friend! I am hoping that MAYBE she will learn now that this won't work on me and won't even try it as a teenager. Parenting is SOOOO hard sometimes...especially the discipline part!

Mommy According to Avery

Here is a fun little game that I recently posted on Facebook. I don't usually do these types of things, but I thought I would enjoy knowing what Avery's perceptions of me were. It turned out to be quite fun! I had to ask Avery these questions and see what she said about me.

1. What is something mom always says to you? I love you!
2. What makes mom happy? I guess when I say, "Mom, this dinner is sooooo delicious!"
3. What makes mom sad? If I get a spanking.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? Tickle me.
5. What was your mom like as a child? You liked to play with your toys.
6. How old is your mom? 53 (a little digit reversal, I'm afraid, and one year off.)
7. How tall is your mom? Let me measure you...(leaves room to get a tape measure, returns empty handed). I guess I'll have to count you. She counts from 1 to 14 from my feet to my head and says, "14 tall."
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Go to the beach.
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Sits there and cries and says, "Avery's not here to play with me."
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Everyone seed you.
11. What is your mom really good at? cooking supper
12. What is your mom not very good at? I'm thinking it's gonna hurt your feelings. (I told her it would not, and she changed her answer to "going to bed.")
13. What does your mom do for a job? clean up (it sure does feel like that's my full time job!)
14. What is your mom's favorite food? broccoli
15.What makes you proud of your mom? Taking me to Ella Sombrero for a date.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Larry the cucumber (had to ask why, and she said because you're straight and long. HA!)
17. What do you and your mom do together? go on a date
18. How are you and your mom the same? Both of us like to play on the computer and we both got blue eyes (hazel actually).
19. How are you and your mom different? Because you're bigger than me and I'm smaller than you.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? You kiss me and hug me.
21. What does your mom like most about your dad? getting married
22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? to choir

She's Jumpin' Her Pants Off

The other day, Brynn was jumping up and down in the living room, and she is so skinny, that her pants fell down. As if that wasn't funny enough, she looked at me and said, "Look Mommy, I just jumpted my pants off!"

First Kiss

Avery: Mommy, guess what I played at school today with the boys?
Mama: What?
Avery: Kissy Face!
Mama: And how do you play Kissy Face? ( I think I already know this one because I used to play something similar, but I wanted to get her story.)
Avery: The girls chaseted the boys and when we catchted them, we said, "Kissy Face!" And then you know what?
Mama: What... (please don't tell me this...)
Avery: I kissed a BOY!
Mama: Really? Who did you kiss?
Avery: Jake
Mama: Girl, you're only 4 - you shouldn't be kissing boys!! (Had to get that in!)

So, Jake Prather was the first boy Avery ever kissed. I had to write the story down for posterity.

The Faith of a Child

Avery was QUITE upset one night last weekend because she lost her new bedroom slippers that Grandma Shirley and PaPa gave her for Christmas. She came to me crying hysterically over it. I was trying to dry her hair, and the drama was starting to get to me! You know how it is. Here's a glimpse of our conversation...

Mama: Avery, do you really think that all this crying and fussing is going to actually help you find your bedroom slippers? What can you DO that will actually HELP this situation? (the answer I was looking for was to actually LOOK for them!)
Avery: I can PRAY about it! (and she did, VERY sweetly, I might add.)

At this point she was convinced that they were going to immediately show up, and I had to explain that God might HELP us find them, but we might not find them tonight, this week or ever. Maybe God wanted to teach her to take better care of her things or to put things up where they belong? We looked EVERYWHERE I could think of, but no slippers. So…she prayed again about it! I am beginning to think that I have GOT to find them because this is breaking my heart. I called the grandparents, and she hadn’t left them at any of their houses, which left me with the option of explaining that sometimes God tells us to wait, and she’d have to wait for His answer.

About 15 minutes later, Avery comes into my room and asks,
Avery: Mama, how do you spell bedroom?
Mama: Why?
Avery: I’m writing a letter to God to ask Him to help me find my bedroom slippers. (Now that's what I call persistence! It was so cute! I helped her spell the words, and this is the letter she wrote….(in case you wonder, it says, "Dear God, please help me find my bedroom slippers." She put it in an envelope and wrote "To U God" on the outside."
Avery: Now, how do we send it to Him, Mama?
Mama: (not out loud) – Great question, how DO you send a letter to God? (out loud) Let’s put it in the pages of your Bible and see if He comes to get it. (So that's what we did, and of course God eventually did remove the letter from the Bible, much to her delight.)

Now, the original slippers still have not turned up, but a certain grandmother felt the need to intervene. I guess you can say that God provided a NEW pair of bedroom slippers. I gave them to her on Monday.

Mama: Avery, look what I found!
Avery: (SOOOOO excited) God got me some new bedroom slippers! I like these better than the other ones! (Guess God knows that she likes princesses.) She tries them on and they are a tad snug.
Avery: I think they are too small!
Mama: Oh well, I guess we’ll have to go buy a bigger pair.
Avery: No, Mama, I’ll wear them. I don’t want to hurt God’s feelings!

I love conversations like this! When I thought back on the whole ordeal, it made me realize that Avery taught me alot about God and prayer! She reminded me that the Lord wants us to come to him with childlike faith - realizing that He cares about the little things in our life, that He truly does hear our prayers, the He has the POWER to act, that He appreciates our persistence, that He will answer in His time, and that He wants us to be grateful to Him in the end. I'm just glad she didn't ask me why God didn't already know her shoe size!

What I Learned at School Today

Avery's class had a visit by the fire department today at school, but I didn't think to ask her about it. Tonight, just before dinner, the oven timer went off. Avery was in the kitchen with Bryan and me at the time, and she said, "Mommy, hurry up and open the door!! Open the door!!! Get the key!!!" I was like, "No baby, it's time for dinner. You can't go outside and play right now." To which she politely explained to me, "But the fireman said that when the bell goes beep, beep, that I'm sposed to get out of the house." How cute is that?

Conversations with My Kids

Avery had made cards for some girls in her class at school, and the next morning, she couldn't find them....

Avery: (whining) I can't find my cards, Daddy!
Bryan: Well you have to look for them, baby.
Avery: (crying) I already did.
Bryan: Well go look again. You need to THINK of where you've been and where you might have put them down.
Avery: (hopefully) Maybe they're under the covers!! (She goes to look).
Avery: (crying, again) They're NOT THERE!!
Bryan: Avery, you have to THINK! Where did you put them, THINK!
Avery: (hysterical) I DON'T KNOOOOOOW!!!
Bryan: Well, you have to THINK!
Avery: (completely giving up) It's too HARD for little kids to think!!!

This is a Bandaid!

Just a second ago, I walked in on Brynn, who was in my bathroom getting into something, I was sure. I looked at her, and she said, "This is a bandaid" and pulled up her dress to show me. This is what I saw...so typical of Brynn!! I'm still cracking up!

The Sounds of Bedtime

Bedtime at the Scott house is not exactly bedtime. I try get the kids in bed by 7:00, which is no real problem for Asa. He's the easiest one to get to sleep - just put him in the crib, and he's off to la-la land! Easy enough! Now the girls are another story altogether. On a typical night, we get them in their room around 7:00. First, we brush teeth, then we read together, then it's time for prayers, hugs & kisses, tucking in and LIGHTS OUT!! That's when the drama begins...

Brynn loves to climb all over the crib and sit up on top of the rails. If she's not on her pillow, she's perched like a bird on the railing! It's quite a sight to see! Avery is constantly getting up to inform us that "Brynn's out of the bed!" or "Brynn turned on the light!" Brynn gets out of bed incessantly, crying "Avee's hits me!" or asking "I'nna get in Avee's bed!" Sometimes we let them get in Avery's bed together for a while, which can be good or bad. On many nights, they'll sing or play school, but often they nearly drive each other crazy (at which point Brynn has to go back to her crib, and she pitches a fit!) Sometimes (like in photo below, taken last night) Brynn will sneak back into Avery's bed, but we won't discover it until we check on them right before we go to sleep. They will both be snuggled up together fast asleep. So sweet!

The other night, Avery sneaked out of bed after Brynn was already asleep, and we found her under a dining room chair just hanging out listening and watching us in the bedroom. Glad we weren't DOING anything!

All of this to say, on a typical night at bedtime, our house is filled with a conglomeration of the sounds of praying, reading, singing, tattling, crying, laughing, talking, teaching, whining, fighting, and loving. At some point each night (maybe by 9:00), they all 3 are visited by the sandman, and then there is peace and quiet!

Brynn's Political Views

Brynn is at the adorable age where we can ask her to repeat random words, and when she says them, she pronounces them really funny. Here's an example of a recent conversation:

"Brynn, can you say Mississippi?"
"Miss-i-siss-i-pee."
"Can you say entomologist?"
"Eto-mo-lo-gist" (She's pretty good at that one)
"Can you say republican?"
"Re-pelican."
"Can you say democrat?"
"Demo-craP!" (She really enunciates the last P in the word too!)

Even my family and friends that are democrats had to admit that was hilareous!!