Spills and Falls
I'm in the process of attempting (by God's grace) to raise to precious but very rambunctious boys. My oldest, Judah, is 4 and knows everything. He thinks that he is really 15 and his best friends are in truth 16, 17, 18. Since we are youth ministers, we knew our kids would grow up thinking they were older than they are, but it's been funny and at times challenging to watch Judah try to talk, walk, and act like a teenager. He's very smart and insightful, so he does catch on to teenage nuances very quickly. Of course, this often leads to him being a little big for his britches, like when he thinks he can jump off the top of the stairs and won't get hurt. When I asked him what he thought I should do when he jumped off the stairs and hurt himself, he replied, "Put a bandaid on me!"
However, with all of his rambunctious and infectious energy, Judah is very graceful. He rarely hurts himself and almost always lands on his feet. He can climb anywhere, walk on ledges like balance beams, shimmy up poles, climb the wrong way up slides (even backwards), and go several rungs on the monkeybars. He was in gymnastics for awhile and was the most fearless child in there. OFten that equals the most injured as well, but Judah never got hurt and was able to preform way above his class level. He's convinced that he is, in fact, Spiderman.
So, I was completely unprepared for Gideon. Gideon has just turned 2. Gideon thinks he should be 4 as well. Gideon thinks that he can do everything that his brother can...Gideon is WRONG! Gideon is stockier, shorter, and above all clumsy as an ox. He is beautiful and precious and tender, but he can not walk from point A to point B with out falling over his feet. He can't sit on his knees in his chair at dinner without falling out to the floor. He knocks his head into nearly everything he walks by. That child bunked his head so much once he started walking that I was afriad he'd be a little "touched" as the old-timers would say...
And I'm being a little unfair here, as he has gotten better, but it was a huge adjustment for me as a mom to go from Judah to Gideon. We were letting Judah climb around on playground equipment when he was 18 months old. We let him stand up on high things, and while it makes other parents nervous, our son was very well balanced. Then we had Gideon, and we quickly learned that not all kids are created equal in the grace department!
So yesterday, after our MOPS steering committee meeting, we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch with our friends. After eating a sufficient amount of nuggets, I let the boys go to the indoor playground there to burn off energy before naptime. Judah of course was scaling the outside of the playground equipment and telling me he was Spiderman. I had to make him stop so that other kids wouldnt' think they could do it to. Gideon was climbing up the right way and sliding down the slide. Everything was going fine, until Gideon wanted to put his shoes back on...And then at a full out sprint across the playroom, Gideon trips on his own sandals, and face plants into the hard corner of the "mom bench" with his upper lip! Blood went everywhere! He wasn't hurt that badly, but he takes it so personally when he's hurt at all! He was so upset. He wailed and yelled until we got him some ice to suck on.
It was one of those moments where I was trying not to laugh because the fall had been so funny and once I cleaned up the blood, he looked like a chipmunk! But after his nap, his daddy took him for a ride in the jeep to get icecream and that made it all better.
How different God has made us all. One graceful and surefooted, one clumsy and unbalanced, but both are tender, sweet, caring little boys that make my heart hurt with loving them so much. Oh God, please don't let me fail them! Let me see their hearts and see Your image in them!
However, with all of his rambunctious and infectious energy, Judah is very graceful. He rarely hurts himself and almost always lands on his feet. He can climb anywhere, walk on ledges like balance beams, shimmy up poles, climb the wrong way up slides (even backwards), and go several rungs on the monkeybars. He was in gymnastics for awhile and was the most fearless child in there. OFten that equals the most injured as well, but Judah never got hurt and was able to preform way above his class level. He's convinced that he is, in fact, Spiderman.
So, I was completely unprepared for Gideon. Gideon has just turned 2. Gideon thinks he should be 4 as well. Gideon thinks that he can do everything that his brother can...Gideon is WRONG! Gideon is stockier, shorter, and above all clumsy as an ox. He is beautiful and precious and tender, but he can not walk from point A to point B with out falling over his feet. He can't sit on his knees in his chair at dinner without falling out to the floor. He knocks his head into nearly everything he walks by. That child bunked his head so much once he started walking that I was afriad he'd be a little "touched" as the old-timers would say...
And I'm being a little unfair here, as he has gotten better, but it was a huge adjustment for me as a mom to go from Judah to Gideon. We were letting Judah climb around on playground equipment when he was 18 months old. We let him stand up on high things, and while it makes other parents nervous, our son was very well balanced. Then we had Gideon, and we quickly learned that not all kids are created equal in the grace department!
So yesterday, after our MOPS steering committee meeting, we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch with our friends. After eating a sufficient amount of nuggets, I let the boys go to the indoor playground there to burn off energy before naptime. Judah of course was scaling the outside of the playground equipment and telling me he was Spiderman. I had to make him stop so that other kids wouldnt' think they could do it to. Gideon was climbing up the right way and sliding down the slide. Everything was going fine, until Gideon wanted to put his shoes back on...And then at a full out sprint across the playroom, Gideon trips on his own sandals, and face plants into the hard corner of the "mom bench" with his upper lip! Blood went everywhere! He wasn't hurt that badly, but he takes it so personally when he's hurt at all! He was so upset. He wailed and yelled until we got him some ice to suck on.
It was one of those moments where I was trying not to laugh because the fall had been so funny and once I cleaned up the blood, he looked like a chipmunk! But after his nap, his daddy took him for a ride in the jeep to get icecream and that made it all better.
How different God has made us all. One graceful and surefooted, one clumsy and unbalanced, but both are tender, sweet, caring little boys that make my heart hurt with loving them so much. Oh God, please don't let me fail them! Let me see their hearts and see Your image in them!
