Today was such a good day. We got up, I showered, then made breakfast. After a quick check of email and chat with my extraordinary husband (who is currently in Japan), we headed out to church. While the oldest three went to children's liturgy, Little Dude and I snuggled in and listened to the mass. He was such a sweet little guy in church. He almost always sits still and quietly rearranges stickers or colors in his notebook. Today was one of those really good church days.
Of course, I believe it helped that when the older three came back, the youngest came to sit with me while the oldest two were two rows back with Jay and Darlene. And when the 4 year old tried to pick a fight with Little Dude (yeah, whose crayons were those, anyway?), Sister Mary politely leaned over the pew and said "I see you, young man." Wow. Wanna know how fast he started behaving? How is it that at his tender age, he already knows that Sister means business??
Anyway, after that, we went home and I made some peanut butter and honey sandwiches and we headed up the mountain to Lake Cuyamaca (coo-yuh-MAW-ka for you non SoCal folks) for another load of firewood for our church's Fall Festival. What an awesome day. First off, the weather is simply gorgeous right now. Low 70's, a breeze and bright sunshine. You just can't get any better than this, especially for an afternoon of invigorating manual labor. But enough of that, just trust me that it was a great day. (and Jay, thank you for dinner...I really appreciated that!)
But the best part of the day came this evening, when I was at my wits' end trying to get the kids down. The oldest had her shower, and the three youngest had their baths. We dried off, combed hair, got in jammies, brushed teeth and then snuggled in to watch Little People before saying prayers and climbing into bed. I was able to shoo the oldest three into bed without much effort. But Little Dude? Wanted nothing to do with his bed. At all. He was bargaining with me every which way to Wednesday. He wanted to be held. He wanted to be in bed. He wanted me in bed with him. He wanted water. No, chocolate milk. No just lay in bed with him. No, not in bed, over there. I finally left his room in frustration. There was no pleasing our little tyrant, and I had no patience for his incessant demands. So I walked out, brushed my teeth, fed the cat, fed the fish, got in my pajamas, only to turn around to see him standing silently behind me.
"Mommy, can I have just one hug?"
It hit me like a ton of bricks. Gone were all of my frustrations and impatience. Gone was my irritation and insistence that he just get in bed and stay in bed. He just wanted one hug. I scooped him up and he snuggled into my arms and mumbled something as he almost immediately drifted off to sleep. I sat down in the rocking chair and just held him, grateful he's alive to ask for "just one hug." I'm so very thankful that I have 4 beautiful children who are healthy and happy. Each one is a gift from heaven and each one is so very precious to me. I don't know why I deserve to have all the wonderful things in my life, and I cannot tell you how deeply touched I am to have them.
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