Hands. That’s what I was thinking of today as I drove home from our two errands. Jack and Elsie both had their yearly well-checks today. They did amazingly well, even when I broke the news that they would be getting shots. Jack declared that he would hold his breath so they wouldn’t hurt. Elsie followed suit. Well, after the first shot Jack gave up on that idea and looked at the nurse like she was kidding… then gave a whole-out warrior cry. It took a lot of muscle to hold him for the remaining 3 shots. By this point all of Elsie’s good intentions of being brave went out the window and she decided this was not a good idea. Well, we got through it. The tears stopped almost as fast as they started.
Anyway, I was thinking of hands. Betty is 12 weeks old. She just discovered her hands and likes to look at them and twirl them together. She also found out that her two fingers taste best tucked into her mouth, and she keeps herself entertained for a long time. She started inflecting her little voice into squeals and giggles. She doesn’t just smile. She hunches her tiny shoulders all the way up to her ears, tilts her head to the side, and gives a full-out grin.
Elsie just turned 3. What a little lady. If three-year-olds can have a dry sense of humor, she has one. She can be cracking us up without cracking a smile. She says cute things like, “aGIRLable!” instead of “adorable”. My personal favorite is how she says, “Scootch.” As in, “Mommy, scootch over!” Or when she’s talking to her babydoll: “Scootch, baby!” I also love how she calls oats “opes” and ants “lamps”. She is quite petrified of stink bugs and thinks every crawling insect is a stink bug. Her new favorite song as of late is, “When I am afraid, I will trust in You… in God whose word I praise.” Good thing, too! I hear those stink bugs will be in full force again this year!
Jack is just about to turn 5. When I think of Jack, I think of his big puppy-dog hands. He has a fixation with rings and jewelry and shiny things. Today at the doctor he requested an orange ring instead of the plastic lizard the nurse gave him for being brave during the shots. He is proudly sporting it. The other day I noticed something crazy. He wanted to try on my engagement ring so I let him… what do you know? His finger is the same size around as mine is. My ring fit. I can only slightly imagine what size his hands might be when he is a grown man.
Elijah’s hands learned a new trick. He learned how to snap his fingers this week. Seriously, I think he snaps them at least once every ten seconds. That means… about 8,640 times a day he snaps his fingers. It sounds something like this: “Mom?” <snap> “Can I have something to eat?” <snap> “Mom?” <snap> “Watch this!” <snap, snap> It seems extremely excessive during the day, but after he’s tucked in bed for the night I can’t help but laugh when I see him in my mind’s eye, snapping his fingers over and over like a camera in continuous shot mode.
Nadine’s hands love to create. This week she insisted on coloring pictures for ALL of her cousins (13 out of 14 of them anyway). Even as I type, she is busily doing something crafty in the schoolroom. For days now she has been working on a mother’s day present for me. She knows mother’s day is a long ways off. She actually already gave me one mother’s day present “a little early” because she just couldn’t wait. It was a hand-made book that she and Jack made together, bound with yarn. It is called, “My Family Book.” She drew pictures and she even traced the paw prints of most of her stuffed animals on one of the pages, and labeled each of their names. Jack drew a picture of him and me together and wrote “JCAK” above himself and “WOW” above me. He gets his M’s and W’s mixed up… which I love.
Yesterday Matthew turned 29. We always joke that he’s been in his 20’s forever! It seems like it! When we got married he was 19, almost 20. There have been a lot of moves and a lot of kids packed into these last 9 years of marriage. Elijah always prays that “Daddy would keep his hands safe at work.” He is a wonderful husband and daddy. I have a lot I could say about him. But he’s ready to hang out together and so am I. I think we’ll hold hands.
Grow Old With Me 