Blue Christmas...

While Paton was getting ready for bed one night he asked, "Mommy, when am I going to see JonJon again when he's not at China anymore?" He continued to pursue that line of thought with other questions such as, "When is he not going to be at China?" "When is he going back to Gramma's house in South Carolina?" "Why doesn't JonJon live at the Wilds anymore?" JonJon, Paton misses you!!!!

Open Communication

(Recently, talking on the phone at our house has turned into quite the competition between the one on the phone & Paton. He would prefer that you give your attention to him instead of the person you are talking to on the phone. So, we have really been emphasizing that he should not scream, talk, etc. while we are on the phone). So, one night after dinner, Paton said, "Daddy, can I talk to you now." Trying to be sensitive to our son, & thinking that I don't ever want to have a teenager that chooses not to talk to me, I answered, "Paton, you may always talk to me". So he responds, "Daddy, can I talk to you when you are on the phone?" He set me up!

Pre-Trib; Pre-Mill; & Potty Trained

A conversation today between Mommy & Paton went something like this:
Paton: "Mommy, can I go downstairs and play?"
Mommy: "Sure."
Paton: "Will anyone else be down there?"
Mommy: "Not right now."
Paton: "Will God be down there?"
Mommy: "Yes, God is everywhere."
Paton: "Can God lift two cars at the same time?"
Mommy: "Yes. God can do anything."
Paton: "Mommy, when do we get to see God?"
Mommy: "One day Jesus will come back and get all of us who love Him and take us to heaven to live with God."
Paton: "Mommy, will you take me potty in heaven?"
At this point, Mommy is a little speechless but answers that if he needs to go potty there, then she will take him potty.
Paton: "Mommy, if there aren't potties, we'll all go potty in our pants."

Logically...

Each day when I leave for work Paton gives me a hug, and says, "Bye Bye, drive safely". So, today when he said "Bye Bye, drive safely" I replied; "I'll drive safely today if your are a good boy for mommy today." Then he said, "How will you drive if I am not a good boy for mommy today?"

The birds and the bees -- our first discussion

Several weeks ago Paton asked, "Did Gloria come out of Aunt B's tummy?" We said, "Yes, she's a little baby now." He asked, "When Aunt B lifts up her shirt, did Gloria fall out?"

Identity Crisis

Today Paton said, "Mommy, I want to be just like you. What are you?" I replied, "I'm a Mommy and a musician." He said, "No, you're a cooker."

Andy Griffith

During a recent family activity of watching an Andy Griffith episode, Paton was curious, "Why is Felma Lou mad at Barney"

Observing...

..."From time to time Daddy comes up here and uses that computer."

Dot Com

"Mommy, are you doing Ebay?"

Cheerful Giver

Paton opened a few of his birthday cards this morning. Some kind folks put a $5 bill in the card. Daddy enthusiastically said, "Paton, maybe we could go to the toy store and buy something with your money!" Paton replied just as enthusiastically, "Or maybe we could give it to the offering for the missionaries!"---Ouch!

Mady Staple

We went with Gramma & Grandaddy to Shady Maple on Monday night. Paton is still talking about the experience. However, he can't get the name of the restaurant correct. He keeps saying, "When are we going back to Mady Staple?" I guess he' ready to do the skit "Beeping Sleauty".

By Way of Theology...

Tonight during Bible time we were talking about God creating the earth. Jon said, “God has always been and He always will be, and God can never die.” Paton said, “No, but He died on the cross.” Jon was momentarily speechless.

That's My Boy

As I went to the computer to turn on some music, I asked Paton, “What should we listen to today?” Paton enthusiastically replied, “Messiah. I want to listen to Handel’s Messiah!”

Future Planning

He was playing with his garbage truck and said, “I want to be a garbage man.” Then he said, “I want to be just like my mommy…Mommy, what does daddy do?” “Daddy’s a preacher.” “I want to be a preacher, too, and a missionary!”

5:00 Shadow

Last night when I was kissing Paton goodnight, he looked up at me and said, "Daddy, how come sometimes you put whiskers on your face?"

Video Discussion

Paton stayed with some people from church on Tuesday night while Daddy was at a meeting and Mommy was at a rehearsal. They loaned him a Winnie the Pooh video. This morning he asked to watch the video and we both said that we don’t watch videos first thing in the morning. He replied, “But watching a video is so special for me.”

Where's My Daytimer

Paton was talking about Gramma coming next week. He asked if Grandaddy was coming too. I said, “Yes.” He said, “I want my Abi to come.”

He then asked if Abi would be at Gramma’s at Christmas – I’ve been telling him that is when we will see her. I said, “Yes,” and he said, “We need to get that on the schedule.”

This Spud's for You

Today Paton was eating some saltine crackers. He took a bite off of one corner, then made the following observation, "Look mommy, it's Idaho!" Evidently the shape of the half-eaten cracker was the shape of the potato state.

Farmer Paton

On our way to the library today, we passed a tractor on the road. I said, “Look at that tractor, Paton. What is it pulling?” He replied, “It seems to me that it is pulling a disk.”

With A Name Like...

Paton often watches the picture “slide-show” on our computer screen-saver as we are eating dinner. Last night he saw a picture of Gramma and reverted to his previous name for her when he said, “Mammoo is coming to see me.” I said, “Yes, she is.” He then asked, “Is Durwood coming too?”

Pray for Action

Tonight Paton was on the phone trying to convince aunt JuJu to come for a visit. She told him that he should pray that she would be able to come. So the next thing Paton says is: "Dear Jesus, help me to obey, and for the food, and help JuJu to come see me, in Jesus name, Amen."

Duh, Daddy

Tonight we were reviewing the states. We were talking about some of our favorite states. I asked Paton if South Carolina was his favorite state since that is where he was born. He answered, "No, daddy; I was born at the doctor's."

Ahoy Mates!

Paton is getting into the Patch the Pirate thing. He just has the Jungle CD, but knows it quite well. He has named his bed the Jolly Roger. Tonight, he asked me if I had any stuffed animals in my Jolly Roger (ie my bed). I told him no. He said, "Well daddy, you can have some of mine."

Blob, Blob, Blob

We were sitting on Paton's bed tonight with his 400 stuffed animals. He pretends his bed is a boat (more on that later). So he throws his pillow overboard into the water (the floor). I asked him why he did that. He answers, "that's the Blob." I asked for an explanation. He said, "It's the Blob, like Miss Deb did at the WILDS."

Curious George vs. Curious Paton

We went by a different neigbor's house on the same walk, their windows were open and you could clearly see inside their townhouse. On the beginning of our walk, they were sitting eating dinner, and of course Paton had a ton of comments about their dinner. As we finished the walk we came back by the same house. Paton looked into their windows, and said, "What are they doing now?" Then suddenly we heard a voice coming from inside, "the dishes!"

Open Mouth Insert...

...pipe according to our son. We went on a walk tonight. One of our neighbors was sitting on his front step. As we approached the neighbor, Paton looked up at me and said in his loud and excited voice, "Look, he's smoking a pipe!" I tried to explain to the neighbor about the man in the yellow hat on Curious George, but the more I explained the worse it got, so we just hurried down the sidewalk.

Can I Charge That?

Paton recieved a small picture of Jesus in Sunday School, or VBS. It is about 3 inches by 2 inches in size. We hadn't seen it in several weeks. But today he came up to me holding it and said, "Look daddy, I found my credit card with Jesus on it."

I Stood Corrected...

...this morning when I told Paton that a piece of the puzzle had a sign on it. He said, "ACTUALLY, it is not a sign, it is part of the airplane."

Could I Get Some A-1 Sauce With That?

We recently had a guest in our home for dinner. I was upstairs with Paton and told him, "Paton, I'll be right back; I need to go check on the steaks." He replied, "is that kinda like 'for goodness sakes?'"

Focus on Missions...

...on the way home from church tonight, Paton started singing from the back seat, "Here am I Lord, send me"--kept repeating the same phrase.

Deoderant Advertisement...

...We were making our way through the drugstore tonight after church. Paton enjoyed a special treat of not riding a cart. I tried on several scary Halloween masks, he just laughed at me. He was picking up things off the shelves from time to time. He was very loud, of course, when he picked up the bottle of multi-vitamins and said, There Is the Deoderant

Family Night...

...is tonight. After dinner we told Paton that tonight was family night, and that we were going to have fun tonight. He said "but we are missing our JuJu from our family."

Paton's Picnic Plan

Tonight during dinner we were discussing our church picnic that we plan on going to tomorrow. I asked Paton what we should take with us to help us have fun. He answered, "Um...maybe we should take me"

Automobile Conversation...

...as we were on a father/son Walmart run, we were discussing an extreme wide range of topics. We came to the subject of the changing seasons. When asked what season is coming soon that includes the leaves falling he answered, "That's Awesome" --I believe he meant, "that's autumn"

Bible Reading Schedule...

...as we finished cleaning up the toys for the day, Paton ran into his room. As I looked into his room, he had pulled down the Bible Story Book, he looked up and said, "What Testament are we reading tonight?" (doesn't everyone read a Testament per day?)

Spiritual Food...

...during Bible time tonight we read the story of Jesus at Mary and Martha's house. I told Paton that Mary was sitting listening to Jesus. Then after explaining to Paton that Martha was too busy getting dinner ready, he asked; "Is Jesus gonna cook the chicken?"

Puzzling...

Paton asked for help putting together a puzzle. I said, "I don't know where to start. "He said, "At the beginning." June 2006

Good Ear...

Tonight I sat down w/ Paton to watch an Andy Griffith. Andy & Barney were going to see the Darlin's. As they drove up, the Darlin's music began playing (before you could see them). Paton said, "It's the Wilds." July 19, 2006

Gramma knows a lot...

Paton asked me if I could show him where the carburetor was in his jeep. I said, “No, I don’t know. Who do you think would know that?” He said, “Rich.” I said, “Yes, Rich knows a lot about cars. Different people know a lot about different things. Rich knows a lot about cars, Mommy knows a lot about music, Granddaddy knows a lot about business…” Before I could continue, Paton asked, “What does Gramma know about?” I said, “Gramma knows a lot about children.” He said, “Gramma knows a lot about dishes.” (August 15, 2006)

After Dinner Tonight...

...he said, "Thanks for the great dinner tonight, babes"