Life with my kids

It's been a while, I know.

Sorry, but life has been real busy, and it doesn't look like it'll be slowing down. It probably won't slow down ever again.


Jesse

The first year of his life has been a whirl. He's a screecher, an eater, and a sleeper. He's totally engrossed with his motor skills, not very interested in his communication skills (except screeching), loves toilets, wires, trash cans, and pulling everything off the kitchen table, and so much dang fun to have around. I love one year old kids. From one to two years, my babies have all been dream children, and I fall into the trap of thinking this is how they will always be. Now, I'm just enjoying this time when he is peaceful, content, and really enjoys having me around.

The other day Jeriah had requested a bowl of warm water to warm his hands up after being outside for a while. I put some warm water into a mixing bowl and put it on the table for him. He warmed up his hands and then walked away. A few minutes later, I hear splatting sounds. I look over and Jesse had pulled that bowl off the table. As a result, he was soaked, shocked, and screaming, and I had a flood quickly spreading in all directions. Before I was done cleaning up, Jesse immediately went back to pulling stuff off the table. I guess he isn't so quick to learn cause and effect. Oh yeah. And the next day he did the same thing with a cup of water that Jeriah had put snow in to make slush. I then had a screaming (and slushy) baby, who quickly went back to terrorizing items on the table, again.


Lukas

He is almost four, and will very soon have his precious blankets taken away for good. It's a coming of age thing to my kids, and a ruse to get them to stop sucking their thumb to me. This worked like a charm with Jeriah. Lukas only sucks his thumb with his blanket, so take the blanket away, and fingers crossed, the thumb will then be left alone. He knows how to count to 100, knows his shapes, can write his name but not always in the right order, and almost always reads the letters of words to me, only he reads them from right to left. He is completely potty trained, including nights. He likes splashing excessively in the bathtub in almost cold water, lying around the house clinging to one of his blankets, getting his own cup and water when he's thirsty, folding towels, and deciding what he's painted after he's painted a picture. He still takes a nap almost every day. He does a fairly good job of keeping his interests separate from his big brother, even at the cost of being yelled at for not doing what big brother wants him to. He cuddles wonderfully and his huge chocolate eyes dance when he's happy.


Jeriah

He will be six very soon, and then very soon after that he will have the opportunity to get baptized. I'm realizing how quickly the next two years will fly by. He is in kindergarten and loves it, even though he does have homework almost everyday. It's fun work, and I enjoy doing it with him. He is working on his reading skills and tries to read signs as we go by them in the car. He still doesn't remember to write the lowercase letters smaller than the uppercase letters, though, but that will click at some point and it won't ever be an issue again. It's not really an issue to me, but his teacher cares.

He tries desperately to create things in reality that his imagination tells him he can, like robots, cars, boats, remote controls, houses, fires, etc. This creates problems when he begs to be taken to the store to get wire, metal, wood, plastic, and whatever else he needs, and doesn't seem to understand how complicated these things are. After his requests are repeatedly shut down, he eventually resorts to making them with an exorbitant amount of tape, cardboard, paper, and toys. Sometimes household items are also subjected to his creativity. And then the family is required to step around his massive creation for days, or move it from place to place without disrupting it's zen, until Mom says she's throwing it in the garbage (sans toys and household items of course).

Today, he decided he wanted to make a robot. He gathered a few items, taped them together, and then demanded that I give him some oil to pour in this hole because robots need oil. "Kitchen oil will do, Mommy." As if I am supposed to say, "Well, that OK then. Here you go." Sorry. No oil for little boy. Then the problem of how to get his robot to move puzzled him, and he decided he needed some wires for electricity. "Mommy, can I have some wires please?" Ah, no. "I don't have any wires to give you," shrugging my shoulders in defeat. "Mommy, we need to get some wires from that wood shop me and Daddy went to when we got those pipes." And, he got a no again. Seeing he was not making any progress with me, he fell back to the final tactic: "I'll just wait for Daddy to get home."



Final Words

Despite all the times I am in the depths of despair because I can't keep things and brothers from getting broken, spilled, hit, thrown, trampled, dirty, and bloody, I still find peace again knowing that these kids of mine are the most special, cool, intelligent, handsome, and loving kids on the face of the Earth (sorry everyone else, but it's true). I get to live with them every single day, all day long. How could I not feel privileged to be in their midst?

It's when I realize that this moment is what matters, not what this moment could possibly mean in about ten years. It's when I can step back and personally revel in their accomplishments, see the joy they take in learning from their mistakes, and watch with my heart instead of my eyes. It's when they look at me in the middle of hot tears, and I know I love them despite all.

That's when I glimpse eternity.