Helen at 6 Months, Hinamatsuri, and Preschool Pilgrim's Progress: March 2-8, 2015

 This week we celebrated Helen's 6th month birthday, her first Japanese "Girls Day" and the blessings of the every day.

 On Monday morning, the boys put blocks into their shirts and pretended to have babies in their bellies. When they had two blocks, it meant they had twins (inspired by the recent birth of their twin cousins!).

 That same morning we made homemade rattles with plastic spoons, Easter eggs, beans, and duct tape. Aunt Marissa had found this idea online and shared it with Mom. This simple craft entertained the boys for even longer than expected (Thanks, Marissa!).

We also really got into the game "Simon Says" (maybe they had recently played it at Sunday School?). Today was Henry's first time trying to be Simon. Pretty much everything involved jumping when Henry was Simon. But he did vary it a bit - Simon says jump high in the air. Simon says jump with a hat on your head. Simon says Mommy jump super high... etc. Micah's turn to be Simon ended up being quite a workout (i.e. Simon says run to the kitchen and back). In the end, Mommy felt like she got more exercise than she had in weeks.

Later, while Mommy was busy with Helen, the boys played Simon Says with their homemade rattles. Simon says toss your rattle in the air. Simon says toss your rattle onto the couch. Simon says throw your rattle down the staircase (to the tile below). One plastic spoon was cracked as a result but our duct tape held strong.

 Mr. Independent buttered his roll all by himself!

 And helped Mommy make tacos (Mom's go-to easy meal that we make on a weekly basis!).

While Henry napped, Mommy and Micah had a picnic on the dining room floor (cheese and crackers) while Helen was in the exersaucer, then read more "Little House on the Prairie."

 On March 3, Helen became 6 months old. It's getting harder to get photos of her as she wiggles around.

 Oh, look, one of our homemade rattles made it into the photo shoot....

 In addition to Helen's 6th month milestone, March 3 was the Japanese holiday "Hinamatsuri" ("Doll's Day" or "Girl's Day"). We celebrated by eating onigiri (rice balls) for our lunch, not because it's a traditional food for the holiday, but because it's a fun treat for kids!

 The boys were very excited to help shape the rice balls and help choose the different flavor seasonings.

 And also excited to eat them!

 Helen only watched (no solid food until after her surgery).

 But we did get some photos of her with her Hinamatsuri decorations.

 She really wanted to get her hands (or her mouth!) on the picture that our friend Nami made for her.

 Happy Girls' Day, big girl!

She just really wanted a taste!

Helen's beautiful doll display. And no, Mommy didn't have her act together to pack them away by March 4, the traditional time to take them down. According to tradition, Mom's delay means Helen may get married later in life (but we're ok with that!).

On Wed, Daddy worked from home. Mom LOVES his help at meal times! And it was especially useful to get us out the door for the Lent service in the evening. When we were driving to church and Micah asked, "Are we going to be late for church?" Mommy could say with gratitude, "No we're not!"

Thursday morning, Henry wanted to draw on the outline of himself that was made in Sunday School. Meanwhile, Micah didn't really feel like eating breakfast. He said his shoulder hurt. Then his arm hurt. Finally, his tummy hurt. At 8:45am he was puking into a bucket, while Mommy wiped his chin and Daddy kept the other two kids busy. After Micah was cleaned up, Daddy said, "Well, I guess it's time for me to go to work." And he left. Oh, and the night before Mommy determined that Helen had begun teething in earnest. She wasn't too grumpy... as long as Mommy was holding her. Despite these factors, the day went rather well. We stayed home in quarantine, but less than two hours after Micah threw up, he was asking if it was lunch time. He had a snack before lunch as well as after lunch (he hadn't eaten dinner the night before as he claimed he didn't like it - "Mom, NEVER make this for us again!").

 After Micah recovered, the boys played well together, going "hunting" in the basement for deer and played other games they invented. This was nice for Helen, who got Mommy's undivided attention, and unrestricted use of the boys' blocks.

 When you're the only kid around, you get to star in all the photos and videos!

Friday morning all three kids were scheduled to go to Henry's class. Mommy got them all buckled into their car seats (Daddy meets his buddies for breakfast on Friday mornings so he leaves early and isn't able to help with our morning routine) before discovering that the garage door was frozen shut with our car in the garage (oh, first world problems!). After asking for God's help, it was time to problem solve (and entertain the kids, who looked on with great interest)! Mom started with a hammer (that didn't make much progress), then moved on to altering between pouring hot water on the frozen spot, hitting the ice, and pushing the garage door opener button to go between up and down over and over until it was able to wrench itself free. Finally we were on our way! It was nice to get out of the house - and we even got to eat lunch with Grandma after our class.

Saturday was finally a bit warmer so the boys got to go out and enjoy the snow - sledding, shoveling, and riding on the tractor.

Unfortunately on Sunday Mommy had a nasty headache in the afternoon. So Daddy took the boys shopping and when they came home, they brought mom a Pepsi Slurpee since we didn't have any caffeine in the house (Caffeine is Mommy's go-to relief for her headaches/migraines when pregnant or nursing). Mom sure is grateful for the way God uses Dad to help her out!

We've been doing a set of Lent devotions that was given to the boys in Sunday School. However, there's definitely a need to adapt it down to the preschool level. Some of the metaphors are lost on the boys, so Mommy adjusts it each day, but it's a good starting point anyway. Today we talked about how the Israelites struggled on the way to the Promised Land. Mom asked the boys what could the Promised Land be that God has waiting for us? Micah recognized she was talking about heaven. Then we tried to make the connection that we, too, have struggles on our way to heaven. But just like God helped the Israelites in the crossing of the Red Sea (that was the story we ended up reading from their Bible), God also will fight our battles for us and help us along the way. Mommy asked if they could think of kinds of struggles that they might have in life. That's when the fun began. The boys started coming up with all kinds of ideas... When you struggle to put on your underwear and get both legs into the same hole... When you struggle not to throw your food on the floor... When you struggle to put your socks on and someone else wants to do it instead of you... When you struggle to build a tower, and someone knocks it down... the devotion time lasted quite a while because they kept wanting to share the kinds of struggles they encounter in life (and continued to share ideas the rest of the day). It was a sweet preschool version of Pilgrim's Progress! And it was lovely to see them connecting the devotional thought to their own lives - and remind Mom to look for connections in her own life as well.