...if that is true, then you guys must REALLY love me!
It has been many months since my last blog entry – I have been thinking about updating for some time now, but I guess the longer you wait, the harder it gets to get back into it.
Probably the chief reason for my long absence is the illness of my grandmother. In mid-December, she became critically ill and had to have surgery to remove scar tissue from her intestines. The surgery itself went well, but she has not recovered well from the process. She was in the hospital for about 6 weeks (if I remember correctly), with
at least a week in ICU. At home, she is basically bed-ridden. She cannot stay by herself any more. She has lived with my aunt for over 20 years, which is a blessing. But many of us have to help my aunt by staying with Meme during the day. My kids and I have been going over about once a week to take care of her.
It has been hard seeing her decline so much, someone who is so central and vital to your family life. It was very difficult to watch her in such vulnerable positions – all my life I have seen her care for everyone else. In the hospital, there were weeks when she couldn’t even wipe her own mouth.
She has recovered more than I ever thought she would! I rejoice that she is back to her old spunky self. She has regained some of her strength, and is able to get out of bed for up to an hour at a time. There are good days and bad days. While caring for her is a time-consuming job, and a group effort for all of my family, I thank God that my children and I get to spend more time with her.
The last time I wrote, Kate was only 15 months old. She is 20 months now. She is so busy and full of life!
Her speech is completely amazing. I just love talking to her! I'm excited that she's getting into the phase of saying funny, quotable things. The other day she cracked us up by saying, “Remember? Cheese?” as if any of us had forgotten it! Haha!
Last week she started with the “Wook-a me, Mommy”s. It is adorable! I love her little voice. I have gotten to where I can hardly wait until she wakes up from her naps so I can play with Katie-Bug some more. She is simply delightful!
Elijah is as brilliant and vivacious as ever! He is finishing up the soccer season (his first). He has really impressed us by being a very good player! Last year, he played tee-ball, and he had fun, but it wasn’t really his thing. By the time practice was halfway over, he was ready to go to the playground. But this has been a totally different experience. There is much less downtime in soccer, and it’s less complicated. He is a good defense player. I have had a blast watching him!
I do have a pretty funny story to tell about Elijah. This is going to crack Sherri (Elijah’s teacher) up – I haven’t even told her yet!
Elijah has become interested in cusswords lately…. Just wondering which words you can say, and which you can’t. I have a very open way of talking with him – I believe it’s important to answer every question he asks (in an age-appropriate manner) without making him feel awkward for asking the question.
A couple weeks ago, Elijah asked me, “Mom, what’s the worst word in the world?”
So, I told him about the F-word. I actually said it (even though I felt like I had to whisper it!), so he would know what it was. Of course, I told him it was a very very rude word, and that we shouldn’t even say it to each other in a discussing manner. He seemed to understand, and went on about his day.
A few days later, when I took Elijah to school, his teacher called me out onto the front porch – she said she had something to tell me about. I wondered what it could be.
Every school day, there is a ‘letter helper’ in their class, and this helper gets to choose whatever letter they would like to talk about. One day, a girl had chosen… the letter F.
At this point, my mind started racing. I was squirming like crazy – of course, you can imagine what I was thinking! I was just dreading her next words, sure of what she was going to tell me. I was already imagining the parent phone calls and planning on making Elijah eat soap for dinner for a week!
Sherri continued. As she talked, I know my eyes got wider and wider. She said, “We were talking about words that began with F. One girl said, ‘Frog.’ Another said ‘Four.’ And someone else said, ‘Fly.’ Then Elijah raised his hand.”
With every word, the tension mounted, and in my head, I yelled, “WHAT IS IT?!?! WHAT DID
ELIJAH SAY?!”
I winced and braced myself. She seemed to be speaking in slow motion as she told me, “Then Elijah said, ‘That’s alliteration!’ ”
I cracked up laughing! I’m sure she could see the relief flooding through me. It was such goodnews that my fears weren’t realized! I practically jumped up and down and shouted when I told her something like, “THAT’S THE BEST STORY I’VE EVER HEARD!!”
It’s good to be back!
