The magic word

Ever since Luke was a baby he has loved to cuddle or be held.  Although when I would hug him he would not really hug back.  Usually Luke just put an arm up or kept his arms at his side.  I’m not sure if he did this because he didn’t understand that he should hug back or if his arms and hands didn’t have the ability to really hold on and “hug”.

Either way, just last week I was on the floor with Luke playing around and I grabbed him to give him a hug.  I wrapped my arms around him, lifted him to me and said “hug!”  And miracles of all miracles, Luke wrapped his arms tight around my neck and squeezed!  I was so surprised and happy that I laughed.  My husband was there and after releasing Luke, I said “did you see that hug?” 

Wouldn’t you know it?  Luke leaned over to give me another great big hug!  I just laughed again and hugged him back.  Then I said something to my husband about how tight he was hugging and isn’t it great.  Then Luke leaned over and gave me another hug!  Then my husband laughed and said, “stop saying that word!”

If was so great and funny all at the same time.  Every time I said “hug”, Luke leaned in and wrapped his arms around me and hugged tight.  I can’t describe the wonderful feeling I had.  After 3 ½ years my son is finally hugging me back and smacking his lips together to give me kisses. 

Of course his hugging skills have extended to the rest of the family.  I have caught him numerous times, since last week, hugging his sister.  It’s pretty funny, since our baby girl takes after her daddy and doesn’t like to be hugged.

Mine...Luke....Mine!

Oh the beauty of a sibling relationship.  Our baby girl definitely doesn’t like to share…even though Luke loves to take things from her.  After all the majority of her toys were Luke’s to begin with, right?  It is funny to watch.  One of the funniest times was a few weeks ago.

Luke has his “monkey”, Curious George, that he loves..and our baby girl has her “Violet”.  You may have seen “Violet” in stores.  She’s a LeapFrog stuffed dog that you can program with your kid’s name and favorite songs, colors, animals and so many things.  You push her paws and she sings.  Our baby girl absolutely loves “Violet”.

It is one toy she is VERY protective of…especially if her brother comes near.  A few weeks ago Luke tried to take “Violet” and our baby girl would have none of that…she took off dragging “Violet” by an ear.  Luke chased her all over.  It was so funny.  If Luke could run instead of crawl, our baby girl would be in trouble.  Since he can’t, she runs in one room and when Luke follows, she runs past him and into another room.  Silly girl!

Possum

Do you ever play “possum” with your kids?  You know…where you pretend you’re asleep or “dead” to see what they do.  Then when they come close to investigate….you reach out and “attack”!!  It is a favorite “game” that my husband likes to play with the kids.  Although sometimes I’m not sure he starts out with the intention of it being a “game”, since he says “I’m tired, I’m taking a nap”…then he lays down on the couch or on the floor.  The problem is the kids seem to have this “inner sense” where they know their daddy is “vulnerable”.  It seems like within only a couple minutes of him laying down, either one of our kids “attacks” daddy.

If my husband is on the couch, the first to “attack” is usually Luke.  He’ll go over to the couch pull up and then start smacking daddy with his hands and saying “aahhh…ahhhh”.  Like he is telling daddy he can’t go to sleep, it’s play time!  If my husband is on the floor, our baby girl will go over and start trying to crawl on top of him, while Luke crawls over and starts smacking his daddy as well.

Either way, this usually results in daddy grabbing the “attacker” and pulling them close while tickling them.  It can be a fun family time.

The other day my husband decided to play “possum”.  He sprawled himself out on the floor with his arms out and his tongue hanging out.  Of course both kids went to investigate.  The part that made it so funny on this particular day was that instead of “attacking” daddy like Luke usually does, he decided to use daddy’s arm as a pillow and then spread himself out, like he was trying to play “possum” as well!! 

This was so great to see!  Luke’s Speech Therapists have always said that imitation is the first step to speech, and Luke rarely imitates anything, so to see this wasn’t only funny…but another small miracle.

The jump-dance

Do you ever do something crazy just to see what your kids will do?  When I was a teacher I loved doing this to my middle schoolers, it kept them on their toes.  But now as a mom of two munchkins, I still find I like to something crazy too….like break out in song or start dancing to the radio.  I think it is great to do, especially when I don’t feel like it, because it always results in smiles….from the kids and myself…which makes the whole day go better.

The other night my husband obviously tried something a little crazy while I was out.  I came home and he said “watch this”….that alone worried me…after all the last time he said that he taught our baby girl how to “fetch”.  As cute and funny as that was, I still find myself telling him that she is “not a dog”.

Well, my husband started jumping up and down which then led Luke to laugh and our baby girl started jumping too!  The kids thought this was so funny and it was so cute to watch.

A couple days ago, I had the radio up and was cleaning the kitchen when I saw Luke “jumping” (from his knees since he can’t stand on his own).  Then before I knew it our baby girl came in and started jumping as well.  I was like their own little dance.  So cute!

Miracles of All Sizes

"Have you experienced any miracles in your life?" (My Heart's at Home by Jill Savage)

Miracles.  Miracles come in all shapes and sizes.  I’ve talked about miracles in the past on my blog.  About how I see small miracles all the time in my son Luke, now about 3 ½ years old, who has global developmental delays.  Let me explain that briefly for those of you who do not follow my blog, basically my son is behind in everything…so he does not say actual words, cannot walk on his own (but is able to walk with the aid of a walker now), and cannot use two fingers to pick up items like a cheerio or a small cracker.   I talked about the miracles seen in him when he finally pulled up at 32 months old, and how he was able to finally say “dada” at 16 months.  Today I want to share a little different spin on how I have been seeing miracles in my life lately.

God is a God of miracles.  I don’t know how many times I have heard that in my lifetime.  So many!  I see His work every day in my life.  Just two days ago I saw a small miracle while waiting for a eye doctor appointment for Luke.  When I take Luke places I encounter a wide variety of things.  Some people show pity, others curiosity, some show a joy or happiness by smiling at him, while others ignore him completely.  This day most of the parents and children ignored Luke.  A couple boys stared like they were trying to figure out Luke and why he would need a walker…or maybe they wondered what the contraption he was using actually was…since they probably hadn’t seen anything like it.

But there was one girl that quietly sought to make Luke a friend.  I had Luke at one of those tables that has a clear plastic top and below that is sand along with little cars.  Underneath the table itself you find magnets that you can use to move these cars around in the sand.

 Well, Luke kept trying to pick up the cars and didn’t understand why he couldn’t reach them.  Then a girl, about 9 years old, came over to the table and made those cars move using the magnets underneath the table.  Boy did Luke love that!  He laughed and laughed, and watched so closely.  He still tried to pick up the cars and couldn’t do it.  But he wasn’t frustrated anymore.  He was entertained by a 9 year old girl who wanted to do something nice for a little boy.

That is just one little everyday miracle that I’ve experienced.  I’ve also experienced large miracles.   One was when my mother at the age of 64 had a stroke.  It was a strong one, one that the doctors were amazed that she lived through.  You see, it turned out that she had a smaller scale stroke when she was younger…but never knew it.  That smaller stroke blocked some blood vessels on the top of her brain…which in turn forced her body to grow new vessels to bring more oxygen to the other side of the brain.  It was these new vessels that saved her life during her larger scale stroke.  God brought her through and continues to work in her.

Miracles happen when we don’t ask for them.  But I am also now learning to ask for them.  You see with Luke, we still have no diagnosis.  Even the muscle biopsy came back normal.  So now I look to God and ask him to work a miracle in Luke.  Luke is continuing to get stronger and make progress, though slow.   So I know that God is doing that miracle in him.  But, recently I am also asking for a specific miracle for Luke. 

Along with his weak muscles in his arms, legs and torso…Luke also has weak eye muscles.  Some know this as Strabismus or more commonly known as Lazy Eye.  They have talked about surgery for over a year now, and they say now is the time to do it.  So in just two short weeks Luke will be going in for a surgery to tighten these weak eye muscles.

So you may ask, why pray for a miracle?  You are getting surgery…so that should do it right?  Well, in most cases…yes.  But, with Luke I have been told many times over that they probably won’t be able to correct his eyes 100% like they normally can.  Because of Luke’s condition…whatever it may be….there is a high risk of over or under correction.  So I have been told not to expect 100% correction.

So the miracle I ask is that God use this surgery and the doctor to fix Luke’s eye’s 100%, not 80% or even 99%...but 100%.  Because I know that God is a God of miracles and He can use anyone or anything to complete His purposes.  I want God to prove the doctor and so many others wrong, to show that it is possible to fix the eye's 100% in a child like Luke...because He is involved!!

The scripture that has been near to my heart lately talks about how we ask God for things.  So I will leave you with this scripture as my final thought and hope that it may help you see your prayer life a little differently.   I had heard this scripture many times in the past, but it hit me hardest when I read it from The Message…so that is how I will share it with you.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, pray to the Father.  He loves to help.  You’ll get his help, and won’t be condescended to when you ask for it.  Ask boldly, believingly, without a second thought.  People who  ‘worry their prayers’ are like wind-whipped waves.  Don’t think you’re going to get anything from the Master that way, adrift at sea, keeping all your options open.” (James 1:5-8, The Message)

Look-alike contest

I was looking back through some pictures from a couple months ago and found something pretty funny.  You know how some people seem to take on the look or personality of their pets?  I know several people that seem to act like their dogs….or their dogs act like their “masters”…I’m not sure which.  It cracks me up to see them interact sometimes.

Well…we don’t have any pets.  But Luke absolutely LOVES his monkey, “Curious George”.  He takes him all over the place carrying him by his teeth.  He’ll hug him, wrestle him and even beat him against the wall or some hard object (sometimes mommy).  That alone can be pretty funny to watch…not beating up mommy with the monkey…but when he “goes to town” swinging his monkey against something.  I’ll try to get a video of that and share it sometime….I’m sure you’ll get a kick out of it.

Anyway…back to the picture I mentioned above.  I found a picture from the hospital when I took Luke in for his biopsy a couple months ago.  In order to keep Luke happy and to keep him from throwing his monkey, I strapped his monkey in with him in his fancy stroller.  When I took a picture to remember this moment by, Luke gave me a cheesy grin and then he gave me puffed cheeks and a smirk.  Luke may not have a “pet” that he could enter in a “look-alike contest” with, but he definitely comes close to looking like his monkey!!

Ride'm Cowgirl

So, way back when Luke was about 1 year old.  I went around looking for things in the community garage sale.  You have to admit, those are the best things ever!  I don’t know how much I have saved getting second hand toys and clothes!

Anyway….that time I found this rocking cow by Little Tykes.  I really liked it since the cow part can come off to wash and everything.  Sometimes you get something that is so hard to clean!

Sorry…off subject again…Luke wasn’t ever really able to ride this “cow”.  Because of his balance, I would put him on there and rock him back and forth myself, all while keeping a hold of him.  So….I was in the basement the other day and saw the poor “cow” all by his lonesome and thought…why not?  Maybe our baby girl would be ready for something like that. 

I brought it upstairs and I had to force our baby girl to get on the “cow” the first couple times.  Now she loves to go over to the cow, climb on and go for a ride…while laughing…or course.  The funny part about this is that the majority of the time she gets on the cow backwards and starts riding him. Many times she’ll also pick up the cow’s tail and start chewing.

 Since she has no problems with it and Luke laughs every time she gets on…I just let them have their fun.  One day she’ll know the front of a cow from the back of a cow…..right?  I hope so!

Here mom!

Ok…you know how Luke and our baby girl love to work together to put toys up high or hide them away somewhere.  Well the other day they combined that teamwork with their famous penchant for organizing.  Only this time instead of putting the toys in a basket or on top of the couch…they gave me all the toys. 

I was quite funny really.  There I was minding my own “mommy business” and our  baby girl comes up to me with a Lego.  This was not something new, she loves to bring me toys or books…then come back and take them from me.  This time though she dropped off the Lego, went across the room and got another Lego from Luke and then brought it to me.  This went on for a good 10 minutes.  Luke handing our baby girl a toy and then her bringing it to me.  The funniest part was to see how excited Luke was and our baby girl’s cute smile while doing this.

Where'd they go?

Ok, so I have to share what happened this morning.  I was going through the usual routine.  I got myself up, got some breakfast.  Then I got Luke up, gave him his meds and then gave him his milk.  I delayed getting him dressed until after breakfast today, usually I just get him ready once I get him up.  Our baby girl was awake also, but since I still needed to shower and get ready myself….I decided to leave her in her crib.  I opened her room though so that Luke, who was crawling all over and drinking his milk, could visit with her while I was in the bathroom.

So, after I am done…I open the door.  Both kids seem fine…so I finish getting ready.  Not long after that I am brushing my teeth and all of a sudden here comes Luke.  I glanced down…and then had to do a double take.  He was crawling in to the bathroom without his pants on!!!  Where’d they go?!  I looked around the corner and sure enough, there they were…on the floor of his sister’s room.

So I laugh and then I bend over to help him stand so we can go get him dressed for the day…and I sniff….ooooeeee!!!  What a smell.  Turns out Luke had made a big stinky and then took off his pants (not sure if he crawled out or pulled them off) and headed to the bathroom.  Does that mean he is ready to potty train??  We’ll find out…I plan to start in the next week or two!!  

I see you!

When Luke was about 10 months old he started playing …what I call, “I see you” games….he became quite “nosey”….and couldn’t stand not to see what was going on around him.  When we went somewhere he had to see what everyone else was doing, when family came over and they went where he couldn’t see….he would stretch and turn so he could see them.  If you dared to turn him so he couldn’t see, he would just move again to accommodate the new position you put him in.  His favorite “I see you” times were when he was eating in his high chair. It was so cute and funny.  When my husband or I walked behind him…he’d turn to look, and all you could see was one eye staring at you through the hold in the back of the high chair.

Now, he can barely walk facing forward.  If anyone comes by him, or he walks through a door…he has to walk while looking behind him so that he can see the people…or the door shut.  Until that happens it is almost impossible to get him to simply walk straight with his walker.  I don’t know what he’ll do when he is able to walk on his own.  I guess we’ll find out.

Anyway, Luke has found a new “I see you” game time.  Since he started going to school we have our basic school routine.  I open Luke’s door and turn on his closet light, so he will wake up.  Then once I hear him kicking and laughing I go in and give him his morning medicine.  While I go clean out the medicine cup, I tell him to “stand up”…and usually by the time I get done washing the cup and head back to his room, Luke is already standing up.  The funny “I see you” moment happens then. 

As I explained above, he has to “see” everyone.  So when I am in the bathroom washing his medicine cup, Luke is standing up and at the far end of his crib.  He stretches as far to the left as he can so he can see around the door frame. 

When I come out of the bathroom with the clean medicine cup, the usual sight I see is of Luke’s head sticking out and over the side of his crib.  He reminds me of a bird stretching its neck.  It never fails to put a smile on my face, a great way to start each morning!

Famous?

I have admitted to you in the past how crazy I can be while working with Luke in the driveway…singing and dancing….looking like a crazy woman.  Well I find myself wondering how crazy I would look to anyone who might watch what I do each day with Luke and our baby girl.  I find myself singing at the strangest times.  We may be walking around the house, cleaning up toys, getting dressed, changing dirty diapers or just waking up in the morning, when I break out into song.

I find a song for everything.  We’ll be walking down the hallway to change a diaper and I’ll make up some song, “here we go a walking, a walking, a walking…here we go a walking to change a stinky diaper!”.  It makes Luke laugh, and make me look like a crazy woman.

I also find myself reverting back to some of my old singing habits.  When Luke was only a couple months old, dressing him was no fun at all.  He would scream and scream, so I started singing to him.  Now what kind of song could I sing when getting someone dressed?  Well, the “Hokey Pokey” of course!!  At this early age it took a whole verse of “put your right leg in…” to get his right leg in.  But, now we are a little faster so I find myself singing “you put your right foot in you put your right foot out….you put your left foot in and you shake it all about!”

Either way it makes him happy.  When he was only a couple months old it quieted him down and often made him stare at me like I was a crazy lady.  Now when Luke is squirming all over the floor while I try to put his pants on, I sing this song and he laughs.  Sometimes he kicks his legs too, like he does when he is excited, so the “Hokey Pokey” will keep him from rolling over and scooting backward…but I have to deal with the kicking.  Have you ever tried to put pants on a boy who is kicking both legs?  No easy task, let me tell you. 

One day I’ll figure out the perfect song to calm him completely for the task of dressing.  Between my own version of “Hokey Pokey” and all the other songs I make up, maybe I should cut a Demo?  I could call it “Mommy tunes”.  One day you could all say…”I knew her when….” Then again….maybe not….just a crazy thought from a crazy mom.

Fit already!

Do you ever wonder why kids do what they do?  Luke continues to find new places for his toys.  He’ll still stash them in the entertainment center, bathtub, kitchen drawers and the trash can (if he can get it open).  His thinking on this always throws me. 

Well a couple weeks ago Luke actually surprised me by trying something new with his toys.  He got a hold of one of those 8” soft balls that he rolls all over the house, and decided to try and get it into the towel drawer.  After all, his other toys and even his juice fit quite nicely inside there…so why not the ball too?

The only problem was that the ball was a little big for the drawer.  I think it might have come close to working if he emptied the towels out of the drawer first, but the drawer was full of towels and Luke didn’t take any out to make some extra room.  Luke tried so hard to get the drawer to shut, surely if he pushed hard enough or put the ball in just the right spot, the drawer would shut...right?  Wrong...so the result?  A bouncing drawer!  Luke put the ball in and pushed the drawer shut, to only have it bounce back at him.  This continued over and over, Luke might stop to adjust the placement of the ball...maybe take it out and put it back in the drawer again...but it just wouldn't fit!  Of course…Luke found this funny!  Silly guy.

Watch Out!

I don’t know if it is a boy thing or just a Luke thing, but he loves to throw things and crash things.  Luke thinks it is so funny to throw his Lego’s at the wall or to take a ball and roll it into something causing it to shake.  Luke also loves to take his wagon and ram it into the Little Tykes kitchen. 

I’ll be sitting in the recliner reading a book and all of a sudden..”BOOM”….and I jump…and “BOOM”…and I look…and there is Luke laughing and ramming the wagon as hard as he can into the Little Tykes kitchen!  Oh….days like that I keep the Tylenol close at hand.

Remember last week I talked about our baby girl’s “reading nook” and how her brother would take her for rides? ….. I’m sure you can guess where I am going with this.  Yep…Luke thought it would be fun to try and ram the wagon into the Little Tykes kitchen while his sister was along for the ride!  Why not?  She was loving it when he was pushing her around…so why not share some ramming fun too..right?

Of course Luke laughed….all while our baby girl was in a state of shock.  For a moment I thought she might have some “whip lash”.  But, she recovered quickly….and was a brave little sister and didn’t even cry! 

I put a stop to this scenario quickly by the way….I don’t let my kids get that crazy!!  

Sister...no....stop!

OK, so last Wednesday I told you about the “reading nook” that our baby girl loves.  Well, after that day Luke decided to help his sister even more.  Our baby girl climbed in to the wagon with a book and then Luke came over and gave her two DVD’s and a set of keys.  Then he proceeded to push his sister around the living room.  What could be better, right?  I traveling “reading nook”…you get to read and see the sights at the same times!

The only problem was that our baby girl just wanted the book and not the extra toys, so she shared her opinion of that by dumping all the unwanted things out of the wagon.  Of course Luke, tending to be a little on the stubborn side, wanted the DVD’s to stay inside the wagon.  So once his sister “dumped” the unwanted items, he stopped pushing…and the “war” began. 

There was a slight “conflict of interest”.  Luke wanted to push around his sister, her book, two DVD’s and the toy keys…only our baby girl just wanted the book and nothing else.  This little “war” proved quite funny to watch.  They were both actually very nice about it, but with Luke putting items in the wagon and our baby girl “dumping” items out….it became one of those never ending cycles.