Ice Skating & Questions About God

Silas has absolutely been dying to go ice skating. He has been a handful of times, but very sporadically. A few weeks ago he once again discovered his hockey skates in his closet and began inquiring to go. He walked out of his room all forlorn and said, "Momma, I sure wish Pappy would take me skating..." almost as you'd imagine Eeyore to say it. In any case, tonight we finally set up a time for him to go and he was pumped. By pumped, I mean every time we talked about it, he cheered. He was counting down the hours until we got to go today. I took him to Target to get him some pants that he could skate in and he thought that was the best thing ever. I packed a bag with his ice skates and pads and he couldn't hardly contain his excitement. When we got to the rink he told me, "Momma, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I was being bad." I asked him, "What do you mean? When were you being bad?" "I wasn't being good at home, Momma. But, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Thanks so much for taking me skating." I still have no idea what he was referring to, but he was obviously grateful to be there.

We got inside and he found Pappy. He asked him, "Pappy, will you hold my hand so I won't fall?" He was too incredibly cute for words. He did really well actually. I saw remarkable improvement just in the hour we were there. Every time he'd skate around the rink, he had to get off, walk over to me and give me a hug and a kiss. When we were finishing up we were looking at a flyer that had information about skating lessons. I asked Silas, "Silas! Do you want to go to skate school so you can learn how to skate?" "Yes, Momma, I do. But I don't know how to skate all by myself." I assured him that's what he'd learn in skate school - to skate all by himself just like the kids out on the rink. "Momma, did those kids go to skate school to skate all by themselves too?" I told him they did and he said he wanted to learn. So, that means our big boy Silas is officially in his first lessons ever! I'm not sure who's more excited, him or us! I am so thrilled for him to learn something new and have that proud sense of accomplishment. I was telling my dad on the phone on the way home how funny it is that he'd be interested in ice skating. He hates being cold. And by hate, I mean it'll be 80 degrees outside and he'll think he needs a jacket. We took him to the snow once and he refused to go play in it - he just wanted to go back in the warm car. He's takes just after his momma!

We had a funny conversation in the car on the way home. This could go under my Conversations with Silas posts - or more adequately stated in this case, Theology with Silas, but I couldn't wait tell it. We had just been to dinner and Silas offered to pray before our meal. He has never suggested to do so on his own, so I couldn't wait for this. He prayed, "Dear God. Bless our food. Bless mommy and daddy. Bless my brother. [mumble, mumble, mumble] A-men!" On the way home I was telling him what a beautiful prayer it was. We had the following conversation:

Silas - "Momma, I like to pray."

Me - "Yes Silas, that's how we talk to God."

Silas - "But how does God talk to us? Does He see us too?"

Me - "Yes Silas, God sees everything."

Silas - "Does God have a TV so He can watch and see everything that I do?"

Me - after a chuckle, "No Silas, God is everywhere and He can see everything."

Silas - "Ohh, Is God this big?" as he stretches his arms as far as he can.

Me - "No, He's much bigger than that."

Silas - "Ohh, God must be really fat. Does He have lots of heads so He can see everything?"

Me - after another laugh, "No, God's not really fat. He's just big. Why don't you ask daddy all these questions."

Silas - content with that, "Okay momma, I will. Tonight I will pray to God, 'God bless mommy and daddy. Thank you for my bed and a roof. Thank you for my silly brother, Eli. Thank you for ice skating and skates. A-men!"

Me - "That's a beautiful prayer, Silas. God likes when we pray to him."

I love that kid, and I love the way he thinks. He's one amazing little man. So, not to leave out our equally amazing Eli, he's quite the funny little guy too. Last night he went to Dusty's office for a bit and was "helping him work". No really, he thinks he's working. Afterwards, they went to the $.99 Store to get some things and Eli fell asleep on the car ride home. I saw Dusty putting something in the freezer when they got home and I asked him what it was. "Eli's ice cream." I asked, "What? What do you mean, Eli's ice cream?" Dusty informed me that Eli opened the freezer and picked it out all by himself. Okay? So, this morning guess what the first thing he said to me was? "Ice cream? Eli's ice cream??" If you know Eli, it's not surprising this was the first thing on his mind - of course, food!

School Update: Today was the first day he didn't cry when I dropped him off. After pleading all morning, "No school! No school!", when we got there he ran up to his teacher, gave her a kiss and walked right in the classroom and lined up. I didn't even get a glance, a nod or even a "goodbye". Nothing! I guess he's over me. About 11:00 a.m. I got a knock on my office door and was told Eli was asleep. This was shocking news to me. I guess he fell asleep in class during story-time. Poor guy! For him to actually fall asleep during class, he had to be tired. I got a cot and let him take a nap in my office as we didn't have the heart to wake him. When he finally woke up, I asked him if he wanted to go share his Iron Man mask and eat lunch with his friends. He said, "Sharing. Lunch. Friends!" I walked him out and he went straight to his group and sat down for sharing. He has definitely adjusted well!

And finally, a quick, funny story. Nanny got the boy's a little basketball hoop to hang over their bedroom door. Dusty assembled it, put it up on the door and gave the boy's the ball. He told Eli to "shoot" and Eli lifted his hand in the air, made a pretend gun and said, "Pow, pow!!!" Dusty asked me if we should be worried about him, we looked at one another and died laughing. Silly, silly boy!