Sabbath

On Sabbath, I had to work unexpectedly when someone called in sick. Lee was scheduled to play the saxophone at the Anderson church and felt that he would be ok alone with Nathan. He and Nathan agreed that while he played, Nathan would get to come up front and sit on the first pew. Nathan had also said that he wanted to sing while Lee played. When the time came for him to go play, Nathan did in fact go up front and sit. When Lee started putting his music on the stand, Nathan came up and said, "Me help you Daddy." Lee decided that would be a great idea, so Nathan held the saxophone while Lee spread out his music, then Nathan took the cap and helped by holding it while sitting as Lee continued to play. Lee said it was quite cute and everyone seemed to like watching them together. Lee said that as he played, Nathan did indeed "sing" along. No particular song or words, he just made them up as he went along. I love it that he is catching on to the spirit of worship.
During one of the hymns, Nathan asked Lee, "Daddy, what you singing about?" Lee replied by stating the name of the song, "We're singing about God's Loving Grace." He seemed satisfied enough with Lee's reply and Lee continued to sing. Until the next verse when he asked, "Daddy, what you singing about now?" Again Lee replied, "We're singing about God's Loving Grace." To which Nathan surprisingly answered, "You singing about that again Daddy?"
Sounds like it turned out to be a pretty special Sabbath.

manners

I firmly believe in children respecting their elders and have been diligently encouraging Nathan to mind his manners by saying Please and Thank You, as well as referring to adults as Sir and Mam. He has caught on to the Thank You term very well and says it often, even unprompted. Please, seems to be harder for him to grasp and I found him asking for things and following the request with, "Now." After several times of this and me trying to explain to him that he wasn't to say that to me and that it wan't nice, it occurred to me that he is only saying to me what he hears. I realized I am good at saying Thank you to Lee and Nathan but I don't say Please very often. What an eye opener! Not only that but when I really want Nathan to do something quickly, I was following my request with, 'Now." Children learn by example so obviously I'm the one that has to fix my manners before I can effectively teach him. And actually he will repeat more of what I do than what I suggest him do. I'm thankful that my heart was open to God's conviction of this problem and am trying to rectify the situation by asking him to do things prempted with Please. I realized he will still know I am serious even when saying Please rather than Now, by my consistency with following up with discipline if he doesn't complete the task. How awesome I can be both firm and polite!
A few days ago when I asked Nathan a question, he replied, "No Sir." I was so impressed that he remembered this all on his own and understanding that he doesn't have a grasp on gender, I simply smiled and said, "Thank you, son."
That's my Boy!!

The Thinker

Nathan's response to my questions never ceases to amaze me. Recently when I asked him what his favorite thing to play with at Ms Charla's house was he replied by putting his pointer finger up to his chin and saying, "Hmmm, let me think?"
It was so cute!!!