Shepherds and Leopards

For Family Home Evening the other night, my 7 year old daughter found a felt Christmas story in the house and wanted to teach us the lesson. She was very adorable, she practiced her lesson, and even picked out a matching song. As she was practicing she asked, I always forget do the shepherds see the angels or the star? Then her three year old brother yells, the leopards.
Everytime she said shepherds both during her practices and lesson, he would yell, Nattie they are leopards not shepherds. Finally after he corrected her three or four times, and clearly exasperated by her ignorance and said, not shepherds, leopards, I know all about leopards and cheetahs.





You may wonder how he knows all about leopards and cheetahs? I don't know, maybe he watched a youtube video about them? I know TV for toddlers is frown upon but boy my kid knows a lot of everything by watching educational TV. How to count over 10, all his colors, most of his shapes, all the letters in the alphabet. Plus he knows the words to about 40 nursery rhymes which he wouldn't know otherwise, because I myself do know the words and melodies to all the songs he knows. I don't mind him singing them, but overall I hate children's music so we as a house never listen to it, my poor older children have been taught all the songs their mom didn't teach them by their younger brother. He is very educational, since he is also stronger than either of them, he often has a tendency to whomp them. (I mean that in an educational sense :/ ) He as a tendency to whomp everyone whether he was watched TV or not. He is just so freakishly strong, (or we are all that wimpy). (Considering the amount of brothers I grew up, I'm pretty sure he is just that strong, I can hold my own, but as my husband says, his strength is erratic and unrestrained.) Although I found an effective way to get energy out. I mean I already knew about running laps, and wrestling on the living room floor, and jumping on his old crib mattress in the basement, but sometimes you need to get the energy out without also building it. Yes, I said that right, I always knew these kids existed, but I never had one before. The more energy he burns the more he builds, but while he is burning it, it revs him up so he has more to burn, he is like a rat on a wheel. So. much. physical energy. We have never found a kid at the playground that can/will run as many laps as he can. He will run a mile when his older brother is training for his mile runs. Once his legs get longer there will be no stopping him.
Anyway, So the other night, I had some inspiration, he was still bursting at the seams but it was definitely bedtime, not to mention he was tired. So I had him sit in front of me on the ground and we started clapping rhymes and rhythms . You know like you use to do as a kid in elementary school when you didn't have string for cat's cradle? Right now for the life of me, I can't think of what you would call it. It really gets his brain thinking, and engaged, plus he is still moving. He loves it, I usually only pull it out near bedtime, other than that I send him to run or to jump.
And now my afterward is longer than my actual post.