More summer fun: swimming, zoo, concert in the park

(Wednesday)
We spent our morning with our Pal Zone group. J and I had a talk before we left about sharing and being kind. It seemed to help as he would get into a tug of war over something and I'd remind him to share and he'd respond. I did a lot of refereeing today as he squabbled with several others over different toys. It helps that there are so many things to play with and you can redirect pretty well. The other moms are pretty responsive to correcting their kids when needed which definitely helps. J got rambunctious during story time and kept sneaking into a play area he wasn't supposed to go. We decorated a kite for the craft and he worked with me a bit but I did a lot of it since he just wanted to play with the decorations. Then he connected with a boy about 5 or 6 and started following him. The boy started running up and down the hall and J tried to keep up going back and forth several times. He got some good exercise doing that.

My reading today was from Acts 9:1-10, Saul's conversion. Beth brings up the question, "Why did the Lord call me?" Saul may very well have thought the same thing when he was blinded on Damascus road and heard Jesus' voice calling out to him. This is the one who made murderous threats to the disciples and got papers and he was pursuing them to have them all arrested and jailed. This was unlike his teacher Gamaliel who in Acts 5:38 tells fellow leaders to leave these men alone. "Why me?" Saul might say. We see Christ's compassion and forgiveness in his mercy. Beth calls this the purity of his mercy. It makes me think of where I was and what life I had led (things I had done) before the Lord called me. It's humbling to think about the depth of his love and forgiveness.


I went to the Y for a workout after that as we were planning a dinner get together with friends. Back at home while J was napping, I got a message that our evening get together was canceled. In a way, this was good since we've been running most nights and it was good to have a low-key night. We played a little with his flash cards and did some counting. I said, "Would you do a little more counting?" and he came over, counted a few cards real quick and said "I'm all done cards mommy" and moved on. We went to the Y again since daddy wanted to work out so J and I went swimming. He spent a lot of time jumping off the side into my arms. He really likes it. We also practiced kicking and paddling. He went down for bed really easily as he had quite an active day.

(Thursday)
We had a nice morning at home. J wanted me to read him a book first thing out of bed. Later, I talked with our friend Eileen and we made plans to take the boys to the zoo and meet after lunch. I did some Tot School with J and got some pictures of counting with flash cards, reading counting books and using colored beads for counting.


On the way to the zoo, J asked about daddy. I make it a habit that every time he asks about daddy while he's working we'll pray for him. So I prayed and then J says "pray for J and mommy?" so I prayed again and then he says "pray for J and daddy?" It was cute, he kept asking me to pray. The zoo ended up being a lot more crowded than we thought it would be, but still enjoyable. They are having an art zoobilee which is a really neat art display of various animals painted in cool ways. You see them as you walk through the zoo. They were a big draw for the boys and they enjoyed checking them out. Several of the boys favorite exhibits were closed today for maintenance (lions, tiger, camels) but they still had a good time. On the way home, J kept telling me "I feel good mommy" when I said he needed a nap and he was sleeping before we even got home.



Tonight was the final Concerts at the Park in Verona. Eileen and the boys met up with us and Carolina was doing face painting. J and I went over and she gave him the cutest little painted dinosaur on his hand. It matched the one on his shirt! It was incredible how busy the little guys were playing with the various cars, trucks and little people we brought. Of course, there were plenty of times that Jackson went roaming. He really likes to wander so Eileen gets her exercise. I had a good time chatting with Eileen while the boys played and our hubbies were nonstop talking too. J got a couple time outs when he got aggressive and hit me for who knows what. I'm noticing he's singing a lot more now. On the way to bed, I heard a little of Twinkle Twinkle and then when I sang his bedtime song he was singing with me.