Mr. Rogers

     Ryland has somehow stumbled across Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and it is now his favorite show. This is amazing, seeing that there is no advertising for the show, it has no toys associated with it, and it has been off the air for almost twenty years. We first started watching Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood a couple of years ago when he was really little and I decided to let him watch Mr. Rogers and we didn't even get through the first five minutes before he said he didn't like it. Now, all three kids are come running to the TV when they hear the opening bars of "Won't You Be My Neighbor" on the piano. They sit and stare at the TV while Mr. Rogers and his fellow neighbors slowly meander through whatever activity it is that they are doing in that episode.

    I often watch Mr. Rogers with the kids when I put it on because I like the show as well. It's hard not to notice how slow the action (or lack thereof) the show goes though. Shows like Thomas the Tank Engine and other preschool shows have to speed up their pace and make it more action packed and colorful in order to keep kids' attention, but good ol' Mr. Rogers seems to keep my kids in a trance one slow quiet moment by one slow quiet moment. Watching him feed the fish or pour and then drink a glass a milk is as riveting as any new adventure they can throw at you on the Disney Channel.

     Another thing that you will notice is that most of the main characters are old. It's as if my kids are watching a play put on in a retirement community. Most everyone has gray hair, which is in stark contrast to the kids that are running around screaming on Nickelodeon in full force sensory overload. I find it refreshing that in an age where youth is supreme, Mr. Rogers and his gang of aging neighbors set an example of manners and respect that you won't see in many other shows. If you were to come to a TV executive and prepose a show where everyone is over the age of 50 and there will be light jazz music with singing and half of the show will have old ugly puppets the show would never get off the ground floor.

     We like to tell people that our kids, especially Ryland, love Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and they will just look at us like our kids are strange. Ryland has learned several of the songs and will sing them around the house, even changing his shoes and zipping up his jacket while singing like Mr. Rogers does. As a party trick, we will ask Ryland to sing a few songs and he will then sing to all of our friends and family that he would like them to be his neighbor.

     It's endearing to hear him sing the songs because, though it is not the norm for today's fast paced culture, we can remember a simpler time in our lives where we too sat and watched Mr. Rogers and sang some of the songs and believed that all adults were loving, caring, and respectful. I definitely remember Mr. Rogers feeding the fish and putting food in his 1950's refrigerator and all of that brings back fond memories of when I didn't have a care in the world and that the world around me was filled with people who only wanted to either help me or show me the cool things that they do for a living. It's a shame that real life is not like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and we have to deal with evil people, vile politics, and a fast paced non-forgiving world. I strive to keep the innocence and the sense of wonder alive in my kids as long as possible and I'm glad that even more than ten years after his death, Mr. Rogers can still give that to our kids.

    Side note, Ryland says that when he gets to Heaven he will sing "Won't You Be Your Neighbor" to Mr. Rogers. That will be fun to see.
 

   

Judas

     When I read the story of Jesus at the last supper, I wonder what was going through the disciples' minds when they asked who would betray Jesus. In the Gospel of John 13:24-27 Peter asks Jesus who will betray Him and it seems pretty obvious when Jesus hands Judas the bread dipped in the bowl, but then it says in verse 28-29 "But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him. For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, 'Buy those things we need for the feast,' or that he should give something to the poor." NKJV. In Matthew 26:25 it reads, "Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, 'Rabbi, is it I?' He said to him, 'You have said it.'" NKJV. Judas acts dumb the whole time, even while being blatantly accused in front of all of his friends and Jesus who knows all.

    Sometimes we also deny that we know what stupid thing that we are doing. Ryland has gotten into the habit of doing something wrong, and then denying it even though we were all watching him when he did it. I told him that I know when he is lying, and for the most part I can tell. As children and as Children of God, we think that we can get away with our sins, pretend that they did not happen, and then deny deny deny, as if God does not know all. This is the new challenge for us as parents as we have to discipline Ryland as he denies vehemently the very thing that he is getting in trouble for, furthering his punishment when what he did in the first place was probably not all that bad. 

It Was All Yellow

     There is this song from Coldplay from 2000 that I used to listen to all of the time in college and the words were something about everything being yellow, "It was all yellow," I think were the words. I'm not the best with lyrics so I'm not quite sure what all was yellow in the song, but I do know that with Juliana every color is yellow. When she was first starting to talk, every thing that she saw was yellow. I will show her a blue crayon or a red block and say, "What color is this?" She would then say loud and proud, "Lellow!" By the way, lellow is baby for yellow.

     I'm not sure why "lellow" is the word that my kids like to say so much. Weston used to say it so much that his favorite color is now yellow by default. When every color is yellow and you ask Weston what color cup or plate or crayon he wants he always says yellow so he always gets yellow. He sees yellow all of the time because it's now his default favorite color like most boys' favorite color is blue and most girls' favorite color is pink. It works out fine for things like plates and shirts and crayons, but not as well for lollipops. When I ask all of the kids what flavor lollipop they want, Weston will instinctively say yellow, which is then met with a scrunched up face after taking the first lick of the sour lemon lollipop that I just handed him.

     Juliana has moved past just saying that everything is yellow and is talking, though every color is still yellow. She is not just talking a little though, she is talking a lot. And loud. She is saying full sentences now and she's not even two. When Weston was two, I wasn't sure if he was ever going to really talk at all. Juliana though is turning out to be a real loquacious little girl that has more to say than she even has words to speak. I can only imagine what it will be like years from now. She will have a full novel of a story to tell me when she gets home from school and by bedtime she will still be only half way through the thoughts and feelings of the first few hours of her day.

     Her talkative nature is good for me though, because I am a good listener. That is what I do best. I can sit there and listen and listen and listen. It's good for me because it makes me a very likable person and all I have to do is sit there while whoever I'm listening to spills their heart and soul out all over the place. Right now Juliana's speaking is short. Actually, most of her sentences are run on words so that her sentences are just one really long word instead of several distinctly different words such as, "whereditgo," for "where did it go," and, "imerighthere," for "I'm right here." I'm looking forward to the days ahead when she will be able to tell me all that she is thinking and feeling in distinct words and sentences, but for right now, it's nice that it's all yellow.