Advent Day One: The Babe, the Son of Mary

On Friday night Rich took Allison to youth group and then went to do a couple of errands.  When he got home he showed me his single purchase:  a Fisher-Price nativity scene.  (See above.)  We never had one of these when the kids were small, so now seems to be the time.  Jonathan's response, when he got up the next morning and saw it on the fireplace ledge, was "Cool!  Sheeps!"

I love Christmas.  I know it's partly sentiment:  all the great memories I have of when I was a kid and Mom and Dad went to so much effort to make our Christmases special and magical.  We would come downstairs on Christmas morning and each find our pile of "Santa" presents on the couch in the parlour -- not to mention a huge pile of gifts from family members under the tree.  I remember always feeling like I had got just what I wanted.  One year I got a set of homemade Barbie clothes.  I think Mom saw an ad for them in the paper and bought them from a lady who sewed.  They were very simple, but I was thrilled with the little tube dresses made of sparkly fabric with shiny rick-rack along the top.  That was one of the gifts I remember being really excited about.

As I grow older, the magical aspect is a bit less dominant, though.  One reason for that is that Jonathan is a creature of habit, so for him the more like any other day Christmas is, the better.  So our actual Christmas Days are very simple and quiet.  But the spiritual meaning of Christmas takes on greater importance for me as time goes by.  One thing I love about Christmas is the music.  So I thought that I would post something each day about my favourite Christmas carols and songs.  I wonder if there will be enough of them to take me to Christmas Day?  I guess we'll see.

This morning at church we sang "What Child is This?"

***

1. What Child is this who, laid to rest on Mary's lap is sleeping?

Whom Angels greet with anthems sweet, while shepherds watch are keeping?

[CHORUS] 

This, this is Christ the King, Whom shepherds guard and Angels sing;

Haste, haste, to bring Him laud, the Babe, the Son of Mary.

2. Why lies He in such mean estate, where ox and ass are feeding?

Good Christians, fear, for sinners here the silent Word is pleading.

[CHORUS]

Nails, spear shall pierce Him through, the cross be borne for me, for you.

Hail, hail the Word made flesh, the Babe, the Son of Mary.

3. So bring Him incense, gold and myrrh, come peasant, king to own Him;

The King of kings salvation brings, let loving hearts enthrone Him.

[CHORUS]

Raise, raise a song on high, the virgin sings her lullaby.

Joy, joy for Christ is born, the Babe, the Son of Mary.

***

This song expresses how truly incredible it is that the Lord of the Universe took on human form and came into our world.  That God could be, simultaneously, a tiny baby lying on his mother's knee AND the King before whom all other kings must bow is an awesome paradox.  So our enjoyment of simple gifts like doll clothes is totally appropriate because it's a reflection of the joy that comes from knowing that GOD IS and that He loved us enough to come and be with us in the flesh.

DO NOT PASS GO!

Anyone reading this blog for the last week or so would think we only have one child!  But Allison's still here, doing her thing quietly and being (as usual) a much less squeaky wheel than Jonathan.

Last night we had a funny moment when I picked her up at her social club.  It was board game night, and she and Laura, one of the leaders, were finishing up a game of U-build Monopoly (a new version with all these interlocking hexagons).  I looked down at one of the tiles and thought, "Huh?  How did Allison's name get on this game???"

What I was actually reading was not the name Allison Prinsen, but the French words ALLEZ EN PRISON -- in other words, "Go to Jail."

We had a good laugh when I pointed out how much this looked like Allison's name.  So we have a new nickname for Allison now:  "Go to Jail."

joining the club

When Jonathan started kindergarten, the teacher had what she called the Zipper Club.  Being able to do up your own coat zipper is a big step of independence for little kids, so she would celebrate each child's achievement of this feat by adding his or her name to the Zipper Club.  As the year went on, the list of members got longer.

Jonathan didn't join the Zipper Club that year or the next.  It's been one of the hardest fine-motor skills for him to learn.  When you think about it, it's a bit of a challenge because in the warm weather kids rarely wear coats that need zippers, so they get out of practice.  And in the transitional seasons, depending on the weather changes, a kid might wear 2 or 3 different jackets in one week, so it's hard to get used to one zipper and then have to adjust to a different one.  Because they're certainly not all the same:  some jackets have left zippers, some have right; some have flaps over the zipper and some don't; some zippers have nice big rings to pull and others have tiny tabs; some are kind of sticky and some are smooth.  So Mr. O has worked consistently with Jonathan these past few years to master the coat zipper.  He even writes about it in Jonathan's agenda, "Jonathan got his zipper started once today" etc.

Yesterday it was cold enough for Jonathan to wear his Old Navy puffy parka that we got him last winter, and Mr. O wrote, "Love this winter coat!"  It is the perfect coat:  the zipper has no flap covering it, and it slides smoothly and easily.  And Jonathan is so proud at being able to do it all himself!  Welcome to the club, Jonathan!  And I think I'll go to Old Navy and see if they still sell that coat; if they do I'll get one in the next size up .. and the next .. and the next ...

Oh, no! No "O"! :-)

At the end of last year, Jonathan's educational assistant, Mr. O, said that the next step in independence for Jonathan would be for us just to drop him off at the schoolyard rather than waiting around to keep an eye on him till the bell rings.  We've been doing that since September and after a couple of days of complaining, Jonathan adjusted beautifully.  He drops his backpack near a tree, plays "yellow-blue-red" with his little yellow ball till the bell rings, then puts away his ball and puts on his backpack, looks around for Mr. O, and then walks confidently off to his lineup.

Today we reached the yard and there was no sign of Mr. O, so I didn't leave right away as I usually do.  Another EA, Donna, said she didn't know where Mr. O was and that she was the only staff on duty overseeing the yard.  When the bell rang, I wondered how Jonathan would react.  But he got his stuff, said "Goodbye Mom" and headed off into the courtyard area where all the grade 4-8's line up.  At the risk of appearing to be a helicopter mom, I went around to the front lobby of the school just to be sure he got up the 2 sets of stairs to his classroom; sure enough, he'd made it with no problem.  The principal informed me that Mr. O was sick today and they'd be reshuffling the EA staff to ensure Jonathan was looked after.  I guess we'll find out at home-time how he got along!  But it was good to see that he knew exactly what to do and wasn't hesitant about doing it.  Jonathan has come a long way!

hanging out, hanging in

It's been kind of a long week.  Jonathan has missed three days of school as well as his Extend-a-Family program today.  I've spent a lot of time just hanging out on the couch with him, working on my laptop or reading while he watches DVD's or listens to music.  Thankfully he is feeling better and hasn't had any more seizures.  We've been around the block with this seizure thing long enough to know that just because he had one on Wednesday doesn't mean he'll have one again soon, so we aren't walking on eggs but just moving on as best we can.  He should be ready for school again on Monday; I know I will be!

At times like this it's a really good thing Jonathan likes repetition and sameness.  He's watched the Wiggles' "Big Red Boat" DVD about 20 times this week, and he's done his horse and puppy puzzles about 100 times.

Once again I have to say how thankful I am that I don't have to work away from home.  Being an online instructor lets me work anywhere, so if one of the kids is sick I can be available at home without having to miss work or make a lot of arrangements.  I know not everyone has this luxury, so I don't take it for granted.

I posted on Facebook on Wednesday about Jonathan's seizure, and more than 25 people responded with words of encouragement. Not only is that comforting, but when I'm feeling a bit tied-down the connectedness is really nice.

Rich has been awesome too.  On Wed. morning when Jonathan woke up with a bad cough and had to stay home, I was prepared to cancel my noon lunch date with a friend because Rich had to sleep after his Tues. night shift.  But he just said, "Don't cancel it; I'll just get up at 11:50 and take over."  He got up after about 3.5 hours of sleep so that I could go out.  Mind you, the fact that he didn't have to work the next night helped -- but still.  I sure appreciated it.  Thanks hon!