St. Galumio, Italian saint of prayer to Jesus

During prayers tonight, Daniel asked for the intercession of St. Galumio.

Michele and I looked at each other, both expecting the other to make the international parent facial expression for "Just go along with it, you weren't here when it came up before."

Problem was, we both gave the "uhhhh.........." look.

Chris: "Daniel, that was a very nice prayer. But, um....who is St. Galumio ? I'm not familiar with that saint."

Daniel, without missing a beat: "Oh, St. Galumio is an Italian saint."

I'm now impressed the name he made up even sounds Italian.

Chris: "Really? What is he the patron saint of?"

Daniel: "Prayer to Jesus."

I didn't ask if he was martyred.

He is Risen!

And on the third day He rose again, in fulfillment of the scriptures.

God bless you!

Songs in my head!

Michele heard one of Daniel's toys in the background playing a song and made the following comment to him:

Michele: "I get this song stuck in my head all the time."

Daniel: "Oh no!! Stuck in your head??!"

Michele: "Yes, stuck in my head. Do you get songs stuck in your head Daniel?"

Daniel: "Oh yes. My head is full of songs....that's why it's so big."

(Daniel now starts singing) "Robin in the rain, what a saucy fellow...Robin in the rain!"

Oh the madness...

Jerry's vacation

Daniel has an imaginary friend - Jerry - a character from the Veggie Tales Christian TV series for kids. Jerry moved in about 4-5 months ago. Now, for the record, imaginary friends are a perfectly normal part of maturation and play in kids. However, Jerry may have overstayed his welcome.

At first, Jerry would only come over to play now and again, and his activities usually related to making Daniel laugh through silly and harmless antics. Jerry now has a tendency to be a little provocative, often toeing the line on house rules. Daniel has always been good about scolding Jerry when he doesn't follow the rules, but it seems recently that Jerry's antics have started to wear on some members of the family, specifically Mom and Dad.

For example:

"Daniel, why is your chair stacked on top of your table?"
"Uhh, Jerry wanted to sit up there."


"Daniel, why is Matthew crying?"
"Uhh, Jerry didn't want Matthew to slobber on his stuffed animal."


"Daniel, why are you screaming?!"
"Uhh, Jerry and I were chasing each other through the house."


"Daniel, why aren't you in bed?"
"Uhh, Jerry was making me look at this book with him."


“Daniel, why are you crying and yelling?”
“Uhh, Jerry’s poking me again!”

"Daniel, why are you dipping wipes in the un-flushed toilet and mopping the bathroom floor with them?"
"Uhh, I didn't! Jerry did!"

Needless to say, Jerry's been toeing the line for a while now. And, seeing as Jerry is contributing to what appears to be a new trend in fibbing, we decided to see if we could “take a break from Jerry.”

Jerry joined us for dinner tonight…again. It should go without saying that he wasn’t a positive influence on Daniel finishing his dinner. That’s when I finally decided we had to take action – and then it hit me.

Chris: “Say, Jerry, what have you been up to lately?”

I pause and nod my head as if listening to Jerry respond. Daniel’s ears perk up.

Chris: “Really?! That’s so exciting! I had no idea!”

Daniel really perks up and starts to open his mouth and smile in excitement. I can only imagine what was going on in his head: ‘What, Dad, What??!! What’s Jerry doing this time??!!’

I continued…

Chris: “Well that’s just fantastic Jerry. I really hope you enjoy your vacation. When do you leave?”

Daniel’s face begins to turn to one of shock.

Chris: “Tonight? That soon? Wow. I guess Italy can’t wait! How long will you be gone?”

Daniel’s face is now in complete disbelief. He realizes the game is afoot.

Chris: “You’ll be gone 2 months?! Wow! Well, have a great time! See ya!”

Daniel, having been speechless for the last minute now begins to protest.

Daniel: “No, Dad! Jerry is NOT going on vacation!!!!”

Chris: “But Daniel he just told me he was.”

Daniel: “No! No thank you!”

Daniel now starts to appear genuinely agitated and upset. At this point, I realize my ingenious plan isn’t going to work without crushing the poor kid. So, I abandoned the endeavor, acknowledging to Daniel that Jerry wasn’t going to go on vacation...yet.

You’ve won this round, Jerry, so you can wipe that smirk off your face.

Jerry the Squash from Veggie Tales

The beast in the castle

Daniel's prayer the other night:

"I would like to pray for the giant beast that lives in the castle, who poked me with his very large finger. Amen."



And the question of the night:

"Ummm, Mommy, I have to be 16 before I can stay home alone, right?"

I don't need help...

Daniel was trying to get some some toys on the top bunk without using the ladder. Michele asked him if he wanted some help and he said

"No, I'm strong enough...I'm the strongest human in the world!"

But I NEED a tuba!

Daniel wants a tuba.

"Daddy, may I pleeease have a tuba?"

"No, Daniel, I'm sorry, but we can't buy you a tuba."

"But I need a tuba!" (tears welling in his eyes)

"Daniel, one day, when you're bigger, and if you're in a band, we can rent you a tuba if that's the instrument you want to play. But we can't buy one, they're too expensive" (about $6,500)

"But I need it today!" (full on crying now)

"Daniel, no, it's too big and too expensive. You can still pretend to play a tuba like you were before, but we can't buy a tuba."

"Waaaaaaaaaaa"

At this point I'm wondering how we got here, and why the issue is so emotional. So I walk through, again, the situation with a tuba, and tell Daniel I'm glad he wants to play a tuba but that he'll have to wait until later in life. In the meantime, you can pretend, I say. I don't know why I said this because every time my parents told me this growing up I KNEW it wasn't as good as the real thing, and it only frustrated me more.

"But, Daddy, I need the tuba for my polka band!" (full on crying)

"Daniel, I'm sorry, we're done talking about this. We can't get a tuba. I already explained what you can do instead."

"WAAAAA........(sniff).......then can I get an accordion instead?"

Daniel and the third Sorrowful Mystery

Our family rosary book has some beautiful religious images in it for each mystery.

Tonight, when we made it to the third Sorrowful Mystery, I read the bible verse in our booklet and showed Daniel the corresponding image: Jesus being crowned with thorns. Daniel asked what was going on in the picture. I told him the people that didn't like Jesus were being very mean to him. He responded:

"Well, they need to go in time out then, don't they Daddy?"

Amen.

Omaha!

We recently visited some dear friends in Omaha, the Eustermans. It was probably one of the best vacations we've ever had. Thanks Eustermans!

Though most of our time was spent taking trips to Costco (it's fun in any state!) and sitting around talking, we did have a number of adventures. The Eustermans put together a fantastic slide show of the trip, complete with lots of cute kid pics. Ellie and Daniel, and Matthew and Cecilia got along great.

P.S. Hey, Eustermans: "T-TIES!" Also, it was definitely Miss Scarlet.

I've been doin' this for ten years!

Michele asked Daniel to clean up his room after dinner. As he went about his "organizing", as he calls it, he had some trouble getting the blankets out of a cardboard house we bought from Costco. Michele asked if he needed some help to which he replied:

"Nope, I don't need any help Mommy. I've been doin' this for TEN years!"

We couldn't help but laugh. In a way he was right, though. It does feel like it takes 10 years for him to clean his room.