Observing advent with a toddler is hard. It’s been pretty good so far, I think. But I’ve been frustrated with our Jesse Tree stories. Yesterday’s story was more than a whole chapter’s worth of the Bible, and today was one chapter. He just doesn’t have the attention span for that. I think despite this, Elias is still getting some good out of doing the Jesse Tree. I just wish there was something in between a baby Bible that doesn’t even have all the stories, and a real Bible that is still a bit inaccessible to him. Today we read the story of Adam and Eve and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Elias was saying “good and evil.” I sometimes wonder if he is yet capable of evil. I mean…I know about original sin and all that…and he does occasionally misbehave. But evil? That seems so strong a word.
Today our advent activity was to make a paper chain decoration. The original idea came from the fact that advent is about waiting and preparing. I thought a paper chain…counting the days…waiting for the chain to get down to zero…was a good way for Elias to access that idea. But then I realized that he already has the calendar…so we’d just make a decoration. I got out the Christmas stamps and some Christmas stickers and let Elias have at it. Mommy and Daddy helped too. We all had fun, and now we have a nice Elias-made decoration proudly displayed in our home.
Here are some pictures of our craft time:
Elias decorating some strips for the chain.
Messy!
My boys with the finished paper chain.
The finished product!
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