Yes, indeedy, this is perfume for babies! Didn’t think such a thing existed, but I guess the rich and famous need some means of making their babies smell glamourous instead of like sour milk.
We discovered this product when a very friendly Bvlgari representative descended upon us in the Bloomingdale’s parking lot. She enthusiastically loaded us down with all sorts of samples, and truly gushed about how wonderful this product is. It’s “specially created for children and their mothers.”
Our sample came in the form of a “refreshing towel” which I tried on Micah this morning after his bath. It has that fresh baby scent but definitely smells like perfume, not lotion or baby powder. Interesting, but I really can’t see putting perfume on my child for anything less than a visit with the president!
I truly treasure our nightly ritual of Bible stories with the kids. Trent has somehow taken this tiny bit of time and turned it into an amazing teaching tool with Emmaline, building up layers of new knowledge and understanding with each round through the stories. For a while, I’ve been thinking I should post about it, but I haven’t known quite how to describe it. Fortunately, Trent recently commented on the Emmaus alumni site when someone asked out family devotionals, so I snagged his response and here it is!
I have personally spent a lot of thought and prayer on my family devotions, and so this is a somewhat lengthy post.
If, like me, you didn’t have the benefit of growing up in a Christian home, it’s not always easy. I’ve had to learn to do things that I’ve never had a good chance to observe, without any good patterns to go on. In a way, though, that’s been a blessing, as I didn’t have any extra “baggage” I needed to figure out how to dump.
I currently teach a Bible devotional story (and often memory verse) to my 4-year-old and 1-year-old. Our 4-year-old is extremely advanced. Tonight, for example, we spoke of death, and how Jesus specifically worked the miracle of raising Lazarus to tangibly demonstrate his claims to deity. Of course, it wasn’t quite in that language. Our 1-year-old is still learning who God is, and so we’re taking it simply, retelling Bible stories using visuals to introduce him to the invisible God. Our older child sits and observes the younger one’s shorter, simpler story, then she gets to stay up after we tuck in the youngest. Hers is longer, and more in-depth. We end each one in modeled prayer, sometimes only myself, sometimes a child, sometimes the whole family.
These nightly times have several goals: (a) Teaching the nature and attributes of God; (b) Illustrating God’s invisible character by his visible acts in the Bible stories; (c) Allowing (and encouraging) Godly dialogue and interactive question-answering by both the parents and children; (d) Teaching and patterning Godly character aspects through prayer.
When I first started, I used a short, simple book called, “My Good Night Bible”. I never got in the habit of reading anything (except nowadays occasional NASB scripture) so I used the provided illustrations to re-tell (and sometimes re-enact to some extent) the Bible story. Each night, we reviewed from a few lessons ago, and every few nights would press on to a new story. Every time we reviewed, especially as Emmaline grew older, we’d push a little deeper into the meanings, and what some of the stories tell us of God’s character.
Today, I use 3-4 Bibles, depending on the quality of illustrations and their suitability to my needs and focus. (Including the old-and-quite-worn “My Good Night Bible” if nothing else is handy.) I am currently planning a somewhat transition away from strictly Bible stories to more “topical” or doctronical studies. My thoughts in this area have been inspired by Harold Mally.
Harold Mally has put together a notebook of material under the title “Learning From Dad”, “A Father Led Curriculum for Training in Godliness”. It’s a series of outlines, resources, methodologies, and tools for fathers to use in training their families in Godliness. It’s not necessarily applicable to children under 5, but the concepts are very valuable in orienting yourself, if, like me, you find yourself without much of a pattern to go on.
You can find information on Harold’s notebook here:
http://www.tomorrowsforefathers.com/forefathers/lfd.htm
In the future, I imagine myself slowly incorporating a more topical approach similar to this one, because of my tendency in the last few years of slowly focusing on more aspects and attributes of God and His character, as the foundation has been established.
What an exciting thing, to teach our little ones God’s word — I can’t express the humility I have at having been a part of our children’t lives in this way so far. This is a topic near and dear to me, so thanks for bringing it up!
Saturday we joined my parents for their annual tree-decorating party. My mom put together dinner for all the grandparents and us and together we strung lights and hung ornaments. Since Emmaline and Micah did most of the ornament hanging, a couple of low branches took most of the weight. Micah was thrilled to find a airplane ornament which he flew around the room for quite a while before it found a landing place amongst the branches.
Besides tree-decorating, this gathering is also used for list-making. Grammy makes everyone write down at least five things they want for Christmas so we can all get ideas for each other. Emmaline illustrated her list while Micah drew all over his hands. I already have a lot of my Christmas shopping done, but I found it really hard to think of things for my own list!
Whoever invented FastPass is a theme park genius. We managed to avoid all the long lines and got to do everything the kids wanted to. Emmaline’s favorite ride was Dumbo followed closely by It’s a Small World. Another special treat was getting to ride the carousel one horse in front of Mary Poppins and then meeting her afterwards. The kids did a lot more walking than usual, but we also did a lot more carrying than usual. Disney definitely counts as a work-out! By the time the Main Street Parade was over we were a tired bunch, but happy tired.
Since our regular Thanksgiving plans weren’t going to work out this year, we thought a little mini-vacation was in order. Living in the vacation capital of the world has its benefits; it turns out Florida residents can get some pretty good last minute deals at the Disney resorts. We stayed at Disney’s Carribbean Beach Resort. We would have appreciated slightly warmer weather to enjoy the pools, beaches, and boating, but the play grounds, boardwalks, and restaurants were still lots of fun.
I love how Disney can be totally immersive. All your reservations, ticket buying, transportation and anything else you could want are provided through the resort. Even though Disney is only a half
hour away, staying on the property was a nice treat.
Emmaline took this picture. I think it’s cute. She loves to play with Megan’s camera too. Maybe she’ll be ready for one of these in a year or two.
Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!
We’ve been borrowing lots of Winnie the Pooh movies from the library lately. They tend to be “bear vs. nature” plots with no villians so they are perfect for tender little Emmaline. Micah enjoys them a lot too, and they are even tolorable for mom and dad.
The other night we watched The Tigger Movie. I had been rather grumpy all day and after the movie, told Trent he was a Tigger, but I was a Rabbit. “Oh, you’re not a Rabbit. You’re a Kanga,” Trent reassured me. We also decided Emmaline was a little Tigger and Micah was a Roo.
After that conversation, I had to smile when I read a comment on someone’s blog about this 100 Acre Personality Quiz. Looks like a really am a Kanga.
At first glance, it’s heartwarming to see Emmaline kindly offering popcorn to her brother. Oh, thank you for sharing so nicely, you might say. That is, until you realize that she is guarding the bowl with her life and taking great pleasure in doling out exactly how much popcorn she thinks is appropriate. Pity the boy who tries to take popcorn directly from the bowl!
“I don’t have eyebrows, just this fuzz on my forehead.”
High Tea
Scones with Devonshrire Cream and Cherry Preserves
Tea Sandwiches
Apple Slices and Miniature Pears
Sweet Dates
Cherry Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Orange Spice Tea, Apple Cinnamon Tea
lots of sugar and ice cubes
I’m sure the kids would have been happy with peanut butter and jelly and carrot sticks, but I can’t help myself. Making yummy food and setting the table with dainty cups and miniature teapots is at least as much fun for me as for the children.
The best part though, was just relaxing with our friends. I so enjoy the times Hope and I can spend together while the kids play, and I love for Emmaline and Micah to have time with their friends too. Our husbands even got to join us after work for a pizza dinner together. Days like this are definitely needed for recharging!
