E Weeks

The past two weeks have been E weeks at our house. We have been busy! We read stories about elephants, learned about electricity (it was a very basic discussion), talked about eggs, emus, elbows, eyes and ears, watched videos from Sesame Stree about Ernie and the letter E, colored E's and traced E's. We have also kept busy counting, playing with a couple of folder games and singing songs. Jed is a GREAT singer and can pick up a melody so quickly. If he thinks you're not listening, you can often find him singing "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam," "The Chapel Doors," "B is for Bubble" and many other favorites. My favorite song Jed sings is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" because he sings the whole song as "twinkle, twinkle, twinkle, twinkle." He has the whole melody but only one word. So cute.

Since it was the Thanksgiving holiday as well, we did a few Thanksgiving crafts, read lots of stories about Thanksgiving, and talked about why we celebrate Thanksgiving and how to feel Thankful. Thursday morning I let Jed do another craft while Dave and I did some last-minute cooking to get ready to attend the feast our good friends, the Hewetts, were hosting.

My plan was to have Jed paint an autumn tree. The parent was supposed to cover the child's hand and arm with brown paint and press it on the paper:

And the painted arm and hand would form the trunk and branches of the tree. Then the child would use their thumb and fingers to make leaf-dots all around the branches.

Jed fully embraced being covered in paint. And he was thrilled at the prospect of making his handprint on the paper.

He made more than a few handprints.

"Yay!" So thrilled about all the hands!

Then I set him to making the leaves, after showing him how to do a few. You can probably guess what it turned into, but I thought you'd like to see it, too:


Turns out you also get to hear Jed sing Winnie the Pooh and give one of his many Lightning McQueen speeches.

So the trees ended up not working out quite as they were intended. I am glad he had fun, whatever he created. I think Jed's childhood is intended to teach me to just let it go, it doesn't matter, as long as he is having fun. I am such a control freak--I want the dishes lined up in the dishwasher, the sheets straight on the beds, the pants and shirts neatly stacked in the drawers. I have always been this way. It is sometimes a painful process for me, but I am learning that it really doesn't matter if the boy sleeps in daytime clothes, turns a tree project into a blob project or is stuck on "B is for Bubble" when it's E week. It matters most that he is having fun, learning a little, and knowing that I love him. Jed's life is going to be full of times for him to conform, to color in the lines, to obey strictly to the rules, but it is not right now. Now is the time for fun, for snuggles and love. That happens no matter what week it is.