Jennifer wrote to ask me about the First Confession/First Communion program at our church, and to that end I am preparing a list of resources for parents. (This would be the “story to follow” reference at the end of my post yesterday.)
Unfortunately, as I have a mountain of to-dos this morning, I will not get to that post until later today or perhaps this weekend (God willing).
So as not to leave you high and dry and without a thing to show for your visit, I leave you with the following three recommendations:
1. Bubbles! Did you know that they’re the new play-doh?
She’ll figure out quickly enough what to do with that straw…
…and the results will be well worth the mouthful of soap that she got on the first try!We found this little project in our Kindergarten Science for Young Catholics book, where all you do is mix 8 tablespoons of dish soap with 1 quart of water in a shallow pan. The “science” is surface tension, not that your preschoolers will care. Yes, there will be a bit of a mess which I know may make the more fastidious of my readers hesitate. But we’re talking soap here, my friends! It’s not like you’re letting your children play with raw chicken or something. Although speaking of which, this little activity bought me all the time I needed to make supper. Bonus points!
2. The movie Facing the Giants. We watched it last night and it is as wholesome, exciting and inspiring as it could be. Thank you, Jamie, for the recommendation! Yes, it’s a little bit predictable (in an unpredictable way). Your kids won’t care, and I’m fairly certain that you won’t, either. You will, however, probably want to start praying more & more, and for that reason alone the movie’s worth it.
3. Late night walks in the moonlight with your chatty five-year-old. When I said that I needed to walk the dog last night, Felicity (pictured above) jumped up & down and begged to join me. What I wanted was to just grab my coat & get ‘er done, (we’d paused the movie and I was eager to get back to it) but the look of earnestness on Felicity’s little face just swayed me. Within minutes she was zipped into her snow pants & coat, (I told you she was earnest), and we slipped outside into the night.
The air was crisp and bitterly cold but you know, we didn’t notice. Felicity slid her small hand in mine and off we went, around the block and by the light of the moon and to the tune of one hundred sweet observations made by my daughter. That little voice was the only sound in an otherwise still evening, which made it all the more beautiful and a gift I will always remember.
Look for those little moments today and take them.
You’ll be happy that you did.
Ad Jesum per Mariam,
Thank you for the bubble idea! I’ve been looking for something fun and easy to do with my three year old on this cold, wet day and I think that will be it!
Bubbles it is!!! We need those fun things on these cold days!
So glad you liked the movie!
Merci for the excellent recommendations—especially #3. What a sweetie!
Hope you have a great weekend.
We just did shaving cream on a vinyl tablecloth…fingerpainting with a manly scent! Fun for all ages and it must have some educational value right?
Too sweet! I love those stolen moments, you definately have to be open to take them when they come 🙂
Please tell us where you found your daughter’s First Communion dress, if you have hers already. My daughter receives her First Communion in April, I can’t find dresses locally, and the websites we’ve perused are not yielding the desired results. Any suggestions?
I just read that out loud to my big kids and actually got choked up about walking in the moonlight! My chatty 5 year old is so good at it that sometimes I grow weary. Thanks for the reminder how precious it is. Sniff sniff.