The current obsessions

Jonah is really into celestial bodies. On the drive to pick up Jonathan at work the other day he watched the sun set on the horizon and had a minor panic attack when it disappeared. Then on the way home he found the moon. But then it would go behind a cloud, or we would change directions and he could no longer see it from his seat.

“Luna, wheah awe you?” he asked. Over. And over. And over again. No matter how many times we explained that the moon was sleeping and he could see it later, he didn’t buy it. When we got home I had to take him outside to see the moon to reassure him it still existed.

Benjamin likes a certain book called Benjy’s Boat Trip by Margaret Bloy Graham. While I am very thankful they’re into picture books a bit now – I was getting dreadfully tired of the board books – he wants to read “Benjy book” fifty-three times a day. His favorite thing to do is read Benjy book on the bed while holding Shirt.

Jonah must be going through a nature phase because along with mooning over the moon, he absolutely must go rock-hunting whenever the front door is opened. There is a bed out front with some small rocks and Jonah knows how to climb up and grab them. We find rocks in the stroller, in his crib, and in my shoes.

We have a caterpillar infestation in our house this time of year. Benjamin finds them and comes running to alert either Jonathan or me of the “big califor.” If we don’t respond immediately he sometimes uses a toy to move it around on the floor for a while, but he will not touch it with his hands. We eventually send Jonah in to pick it up and throw it out into the front bed. Then he always asks to go rock-hunting.

We collect rocks when we go on nature walks, especially the kind you can write on asphalt with. Jonah always wants me to draw the letter P. Benjamin likes the letters O and V (the latter looks like a 7 when viewed sideways, he discovered). They also found some beautiful red seeds the other day.

Both boys like to color and Jonah will sit in his high chair for more than half an hour, happily marking a paper with crayons or a pencil. They invented a game of sticking a crayon in their ear and saying “hello?” like they are answering the phone.

Benjamin is into the color orange. And he still loves bulldozers. So when he sees an orange bulldozer – wow! – we have to talk about it for twenty minutes! Bulldozer! Orange! Orange bulldozer!

Both boys are beginning to navigate steps on their own as well. If the steps are spaced at least a foot apart, they can usually go up and down on their own. In the front of the sanctuary at our church there are a couple of steps to get up onto the platform. This Sunday the children are singing songs and acting out the nativity scene at the beginning of the service. And if the dress rehearsal a few days ago is any indication, there are going to be two hyper lambs climbing up and down the stairs joyously proclaiming the good news of arriba! and abajo!