Tuesday, February 11, 2003
John reminded me by email just now to make a posting about Drew's recent wedding. Yes, that is right - his recent wedding. Yes, he is just six years old; he has been engaged since the summer of '02 when he was five to his best friend Bethany Keyl, a delightful little girl with whom he plays frequently. Her daddy is the pastor of the church down the street where the children attended preschool last year, and her mom is also a pastor of the Lutheran ministry, and is currently on leave to be home raising her children. We enjoy the family immensely. So when we were invited over for dinner last month to celebrate Bethany's sixth birthday, the children staged an impromptu wedding ceremony on that very day, January 25, 2003. They asked John to be the ringbearer, her daddy to be a groomsman and to dance a jig, and her mom to be the flower girl, and I was asked to be the matron of honor and her brother was the emcee, best man and wedding planner. Even the family dog attended. It was quite something and they got all dressed up in frilly things and high heel shoes, the works. There were flower arrangements, a brand new dress for Bethany and all kinds of pictures were taken.
Drew has been watching a lot of old Star Wars movies withh John lately and just loving it. I suppose it all started when he received a Star Wars Lego kit for Christmas. So Drew knows all the characters' names, including the Emperor and Darth Vader. He also is very aware of just how bad and dastardly the Emperor is, dressed all in his terrible black cloak and hood. So I should not have been surprised to hear his comment when we happened to be in church Sunday, in the basement having a "Sweetheart" breakfast with the parishioners. A kindly nun came up and was charming Matthew in my arms and she actually was pretty sweet. Drew does not see many nuns, in fact, I cannot recall him ever seeing a nun before (in habit). But he tugged on my sleeve and whispered 'Mommy, I HAVE to tell you something!" So I bent my ear down, and he whispered "She looks like the Emperor" in a voice that said he did not know whether to trust her.
During our breakfast I was talking to a gentleman on one side of me and did not immediately notice another talking to Matthew on the other side of the table near the boys. John told me that Drew came up to him, whispered in his ear urgently that "A stranger was talking to Matt!" Wow, I was so pleased to hear that he was looking out for Matt.
Lately I have noticed that, when nursing Matt, I have to keep my voice level since he falls off to sleep or at least a deep deep relaxed state pretty quickly often. Often I burst out laughing or talk loudly enough that it startles him. Sometimes I notice him wake up very quickly and turn to me when I laugh or speak too loudly. Sometimes I notice Matthew turning his head to look up at me intently and he holds it there just staring at me. It almost seems as if he is dusturbed if I speak to other people while feeding HIM!
Yesterday AM Drew had his best friend Bethany over to play and they were eagerly taking part in Matt's care. Or, I should say Bethany was and Drew followed in her footsteps, not wanting to be left out of something. We hve just begun to feed Matt rice cereal with formula, and they each took turns giving him a spoonful. They were funny the way they would try to put in another spoonful just as they had put one into his little mouth. He takes quite a while to eat it since he is not familiar with 'solid' food. So a couple minutes between spoonfuls is just what he needs now!
Yesterday evening, Matt was just wanting to be held at dinnertime, so John and I took turns, and he still fussed. I didn't realize just how much Drew had been listening to our trouble shooting process over the past few months, but he talked me right through it. It was pretty funny to me. "When did he last eat?" he asked me. I told him I didn't remember exactly, but I guess close to two hours ago. 'Oh yeah, he's hungry then. Why don't you feed him while we eat?" he pointed out.
A couple minutes ago, Drew came down from bed and found me watching CNN which I turned off, as they were talking about war with Iraq. It is early am. I told him it was time for breakfast and he suggested we eat it in the family room 'to keep Matt company.' I told him that I realized he wanted to watch TV, and wasn't that the real reason he wanted to stay in the family room to eat, and he kept up his story - that he wanted to keep Matt company (if we were going to eat in the kitchen I would have brought Matt in withh us).
During our breakfast I was talking to a gentleman on one side of me and did not immediately notice another talking to Matthew on the other side of the table near the boys. John told me that Drew came up to him, whispered in his ear urgently that "A stranger was talking to Matt!" Wow, I was so pleased to hear that he was looking out for Matt.
Lately I have noticed that, when nursing Matt, I have to keep my voice level since he falls off to sleep or at least a deep deep relaxed state pretty quickly often. Often I burst out laughing or talk loudly enough that it startles him. Sometimes I notice him wake up very quickly and turn to me when I laugh or speak too loudly. Sometimes I notice Matthew turning his head to look up at me intently and he holds it there just staring at me. It almost seems as if he is dusturbed if I speak to other people while feeding HIM!
Yesterday AM Drew had his best friend Bethany over to play and they were eagerly taking part in Matt's care. Or, I should say Bethany was and Drew followed in her footsteps, not wanting to be left out of something. We hve just begun to feed Matt rice cereal with formula, and they each took turns giving him a spoonful. They were funny the way they would try to put in another spoonful just as they had put one into his little mouth. He takes quite a while to eat it since he is not familiar with 'solid' food. So a couple minutes between spoonfuls is just what he needs now!
Yesterday evening, Matt was just wanting to be held at dinnertime, so John and I took turns, and he still fussed. I didn't realize just how much Drew had been listening to our trouble shooting process over the past few months, but he talked me right through it. It was pretty funny to me. "When did he last eat?" he asked me. I told him I didn't remember exactly, but I guess close to two hours ago. 'Oh yeah, he's hungry then. Why don't you feed him while we eat?" he pointed out.
A couple minutes ago, Drew came down from bed and found me watching CNN which I turned off, as they were talking about war with Iraq. It is early am. I told him it was time for breakfast and he suggested we eat it in the family room 'to keep Matt company.' I told him that I realized he wanted to watch TV, and wasn't that the real reason he wanted to stay in the family room to eat, and he kept up his story - that he wanted to keep Matt company (if we were going to eat in the kitchen I would have brought Matt in withh us).
Monday, February 10, 2003
John came down this AM, and began a conversation with me - I had been up since 6 with Matthew. He told me of a touching moment last night when he was tucking Drew into bed and we always ask Drew what it is that he wants to pray for this night. That day we had been to the children's mass in the basement of our parish, and he had partaken in the question asked of the children '"Does anyone have any intentions today?" Sure enough, after he heard lots of children ask the others to pray for something near and dear to them, he raised his hand. "For my little brother Matthew who has heartburn." Boy was I ever proud that he cared about his little brother. I then asked the others to pray for John who has such a bad back. So this am John told me what Drew asked God for that night - to help his daddy's back stop hurting.' His compassion to John has been very heartwarming over the past year. He has always known that his dad has back pain that never goes away, and it often gets in the way of something he could have done with his dad, but he doesn't complain. Once, we were talking about a pain that Drew had and I mentioned to him that Daddy's pain never goes away, and he was pretty sympathetic. He said "You know I really don't like pain. In fact I really hate it."
