Sacramental Moments with Preschoolers

I have to have another derailment. Sorry about that. 

Four-year-olds just rock hard. They really do. Especially mine, of course.

CS is stubborn but my goodness he's a sweetheart. I love his hugs. When he hugs me, he always always always makes it a "Bear" hug. "Bear hugs" include a growl. It used to always be a loud growl but sometimes now it's a quiet growl, depending on his mood. But he always growls when he give me my hugs. 

And think about it: Four-year-olds have only been on earth a very short time and they've had a lot to figure out in that short time. They had to learn how to eat and talk and walk and dress themselves and use a toilet and sing and operate a television remote control and manipulated grandmothers. That's a lot of stuff to learn! So many times, people get frustrated with little kids when we really should be so impressed with everything they've figured out while multiplying their height and weights constantly! It is a LOT of work to be four-years-old. And MY four-year-old does it marvelously, if I do say so myself.

Today was just lovely.

Last night, after Scouts, we had to go buy Santa hats. Yes, had to. The big boys had to wear them to school today. (Some brain surgeon, I'm pretty sure the student council was behind this, decided that everyone at school should wear Santa hats today.) DaddyDoc needs to wear one to the Cub Scout meeting on Monday. So if everyone else is getting a hat, you know that Captain Stubborn had to get one, too. But he actually wears it! This morning when the big boys put on their hats for school, so did CS!

Our first stop was Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf. CS begs for Chocolate Milk every time we go to CB&TL but I limit that treat to Fridays only. My policy is that if he orders it, he can have it - thus requiring him to speak to the people who work at CB&TL. I'm a tricky one. Usually he ends up saying "I'd like Chocolate PEPPERMINT Milk, please!" Apparently, CS is also tricky, PEPPERMINT, too??? Today when we walked in, the staff was so proud of themselves because they had made him chocolate milk with whipped cream on it when they saw us in the parking lot, before we even got to the door! He was so glad to see it (I am not a very nice mother, usually he does not get the whip,) that he didn't care there was no peppermint in it.

Then we went straight to Preschool. Normally, CS attends afternoon preschool Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday but today was a special Mother/Child Craft day. Each classroom had a special activity for us to make together! We started off with a mother/son picture which you know I'll have to buy no matter how bad it comes out. Oh well. Hopefully I will only have one chin. 

Then we went upstairs and I turned my self-righteous moment into a moment of gratitude...

In this room, each child decorated an apron in the shape of a gingerbread man! Too Cute!! The first task was to collect decorations for our apron. In CS's world, the most perfect color is green, dark light green to be precise. (We think dark light green means Kelly Green but we're not entirely sure because sometimes it seems to just be whatever green he sees.) It was very convenient that CS found a green pom-pom for his gingerbread nose. He selected a green felt ornament, too, but he also grabbed red and blue ornaments as an homage to his brothers. 

The thing about 4-year-old artists is that green being the most awesome color in the world is vastly more important than accuracy. So once we glued the ornaments and the big googly eyes and the green pom-pom nose, CS used the red piece of felt that was designed to be cut into a mouth shape, as a shirt decoration and we selected green rick-rack for the gingerbread man's mouth. Green is a really awesome color. Really.

The boy across from us decided that his gingerbread apron man needed three eyes.

The little girl next to us had used LOTS of glue to make sure her pink rick-rack decoration STUCK REAL GOOD.

And then there was "D's" mom. D likes to use plenty of glue to make sure his pieces stick, and the lollipop sticks were kind of hard to use with the big red felt. Unfortunately, D's mom was having a hard time letting D's four-year-old habits run the show. His messiness and inaccuracy were frustrating mom. A lot.

I stopped and smiled because that's the mom I was always afraid I would be. Before I'd noticed D's mom, CS put the ornaments in the "wrong" place on the apron. Upside down. They would have looked much better higher up and to the left a bit. I put them there because I'm a really helpful person like that. (I did leave them upside down, though!) That's when CS took the ornaments and put them back where HE wanted them. Oh, that's right. It's HIS apron. When D's mom was, shall we say, sternly directing D's activities and admonishing him for his lack of neatness, I just smiled. Oh, I'm so glad I stepped back. 

I have to admit, I'm not perfect. We had a decorative green rope to add to CS's apron and I was a little pushy about helping him glue that in place so that the glue did not make too much of a mess. But it was a give and take thing. By then, the ornaments were where CS wanted them, I'd found green rick rack for the mouth and CS had made a mess applying the mouth glue - so he was feeling independent enough that I was 'helping' more than doing for him. That's how I like to think about it anyway. 

The day continued. CS assembled a wooden necklace. The ribbon started to fray so I asked the teacher for a piece of scotch tape for the end. CS strung the entire necklace himself. He shook paint in a clear plastic ornament, painted a "Polar Express" train engine, did an adorable job gluing bells on an elf hat, and glittered and sequined a snowflake! Each project required a little adult guidance but I loved watching his little fingers work. He pick up tiny jingle bells. He asked me to help him pick out the dark blue sequins for his snowflake. And when I suggested that his Polar Express jingle bell might be fun tied onto his Santa hat, he was anxious to let me tie it on for him!

We had so much stuff to carry out to the car and CS was giggling and making his Santa hat jingle all the way out! It's not all dry yet so we had to lay it carefully on seats and the floor of the PerkyMommyMobile. 

And then I stopped in the parking lot and squatted down to hug him and stop to savor the moment. CS is such a good boy! We had such a lovely morning. I am so glad I could be patient and enjoy the time.

I said a little prayer of gratitude and he told me to stop talking. 

That's ok, Captain Stubborn. But don't think you're getting out of the bear hugs that easily.