Two Year Old Theology ?

The other night, as I was snuggling and rocking Eva to sleep just before bedtime, she heard the word "heaven" in the first song on her lullabye CD (Be Thou My Vision.) She sat up and we had the following conversation:

Eva: Mom, where is heaven again?
Me: It's up in the sky kind of, it's a beautiful place where God is, remember?
Eva: Mom, God is in heaven, but isn't God with me too?
Me: Yes, God is in heaven and God is kind of everywhere too - He is with us now, and whenever we pray and talk to God He's there too - he is all around.
Eva: But mom, I don't think God is here now.
Me: Why babe?
Eva: (pointing) He isn't on my dresser; he isn't by my curtain; he isn't in my bed with me. Where IS HE?
Me: (smiling) I know its hard to not be able to see God, but remember when Jesus was born as a baby, in our Christmas stories, that was when God lived with us and was friends with children and sick people and good and mean people. Jesus was friends with everyone, so we would know that God wants to be everyone's friend.
Eva: Where did he go after Christmas?
Me: (hesitating a bit) Well, he grew up, and did lots of cool stuff, and then he died honey, but then God made him well again and took him up to heaven, and so now we pray to God and his Son Jesus and -
Eva: (cutting me off and putting her head down on my chest to go to sleep) I still can't see him here mom. Will he come here tomorrow?

I couldn't help but thinking that she was asking the same questions we grown ups struggle with. Adults of all ages have trouble with not being able to see God and know for sure if He is with us. I wonder how understanding things like the trinity, heaven, prayer, faith, and belief in an eternal and transcendent God must sound to a two year old... I kind of love the whole concept that our little girl is wondering about all this stuff.

Joy in a Box!

Eva got a fun package in the mail this week from Godmomma Linnea in Colorado. It contained several fun treasures, but the first gift that captured Eva's attention was...

... a set of fairy wings! What a smile on this 2 year old's face. :) Next, she discovered the rest of the ensemble wrapped up in the box....

...a fairy dress with ribbons/belt, and a fairy wand!

Fairy play ensued for quite a while - including dancing, flying, singing songs, and teaching us parents how fairies run. :) Thanks Lin, for the box of joy you sent our way!

Some Common Eva Phraseologies...

Lately I find myself laughing - hard - at Eva's way of seeing and communicating with the world. (I also find myself getting irritated and wiped out by some of her two-year-old antics - but mostly, its pretty stinking cute!)

Some of these phrases I hear, literally, ten times a day, so I wanted to remember them and her funny little way of talking and interacting with our world. :)

"Okay, buh-bye, see you soon!"
(Said when she is going to leave, for any length of time, including going into her own room if I am still in the kitchen - for example.)

"Socks (or, baby/momma/drum/etc.), wuh-are you?"
(Said while wandering around the house and looking under things, or sometimes after she has hidden something and is purposely making a game of finding it.)

"Where did thot come from?"
(Said in a quizzical tone, whenever she is surprised by something being where it shouldn't be, including - today - wondering where the brightly-colored ear on a new toy came from.)

"Good night momma, love you momma, g'night, see you soon."
(Yelled through her closed door after I tuck her in for a nap/bedtime.)

"Oh Boy!"
(Said all the time, for obvious reasons.)

"Stop it, stop it," or "go away, go away."
(Said when she is being typical two year old and getting upset about something.)

"Dans with me, dans with Eva, in-si-ments, get insiments (instruments)!!
(Said many times a day, or whenever music is on, or she gets an idea for dancing or pretending she is something.)

"HI!! (Yelled full-volume to most strangers we see in the park/grocery store/or off of our deck. Then it's followed up by:) "What's your name?" (which is sometimes followed by:) "I Eva."

"Hi little toes, how are you? What's your name?"
(Said while crouched down on all fours, talking to my painted toenails, which she loves lately :). Yep, our daughter talks to toes.)



(This last photo is Eva playing a new 'instiment' with her dad, where they both make sounds into the "pipe" - aka, her toy broom handle. It's a fave game lately!)

What did you just say?

I have been pretty surprised at several phrases coming out of my little girl's mouth this week. I don't know if it's her super smart babysitter, my amazing mothering skills, or the influence of Sesame Street kicking in, but I have been wondering -when did she learn to talk like this?

- This morning she greeted me with, "Hi Mommy! I love you! Time to play - come with me."

- After her nap, she yelled, "I have poopy diaper. Change now."

- At lunch, she made up a song (that she sang at the top of her lungs) that included the phrases, "me and you play together," and "puppy and goose and goat play in the park. Goat and goose eat outside." (Recently she loves seeing the geese peck around for food in the snow in the park, and she's always loved puppies - and I don't know where the goat came from, probably from one of her fave puzles?)

- Before leaving the house with her dad for a walk (wearing her adorable sunglasses and pink mittens), she confided in me, "I walk with daddy now. Daddy stand on feet. Eva walk too."

????

Complex ideas and sentences, made up several phrases, made up of a bunch of words? What is going on?

Yep, I love it. Can't wait to communicate with my girl even more.