Brain Power

I think I went into this whole parenthood thing with the idea that it would be hard work, but it wouldn't really "work" my brain that much. After all, how stimulating can it be to converse with toddlers all day long? Well, now that my toddler is more of a preschooler, things are becoming quite a bit more complicated.

Today we were all in the car on the way to Sam's. I'm driving; Noah (our 4 year old friend that comes over twice a week) is behind me; Roo is next to him; and Scooter is way in the back. Out of the blue, Noah begins to talk about how God died on the Cross. I reminded him that it was Jesus that died for us. Then, from the back, came a request from Scooter to "tell me the story of Jesus dying on the cross." He is really into telling stories in the car. While we were heading to Texas, we stuck with the easy stories like "Three Little Pigs" and "Cinderella".

Here's the thing, that may sound like an easy request, but how do you translate "Jesus died as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. He was pierced for our transgressions and by his wounds we are healed" into language for a three year old to understand? Then, the questions came flooding: "what is a cross? how did Jesus get boo-boos on his feet? (this was not something I said - he must have remembered it from Sunday School) what does God have to do with this?"

Then, the funniest part, is as quickly as it started, it all ended. Attention shifts quickly and the Salvation Army Bell Ringer suddenly became a much more exciting topic of conversation. We put money in the red bucket and headed in for our shopping.

And, speaking of brain power, I'm amazed how much a little three-year old brain retains. As we got out of the car, I recited my list of four items for Scooter to remember. Several times in the store, I asked what else we needed and he remembered everything! We had fun counting and remembering our list.