Daily Five

I'll just share a few thoughts and blurry, fuzzed out pictures that have captured those thoughts over the last week or so.

As I finished drying my hair and watched Luke calmly looking at books and waiting patiently for me to finish so I could read or play with him, I had to marvel at his reality today vs. what I might have thought his future reality would be at about 18 months-2 years old. At that time, everything was a challenge. Every single diaper change turned into a writhing screaming battle. Every single clothing change. Every time his hair needed washed in the bathtub was a disaster. Trying to get his hair cut. Putting sunscreen on him in the summer. Transferring from a crib to a bed after I couldn't watch him fall out of his crib on his head again because of his strong sheer will to do what he wanted, and then sitting on a stool outside his door for sometimes hours at a time until he would stay in his bed at night.

I knew his will was strong, and wondered how we'd ever make it through with him when EVERYTHING.WAS.A.STRUGGLE.

And now, here he is:

That same boy who didn't seem to be able to handle 'being handled' back then likes to cuddle now, and sit and play games and read books for hours if you're willing. He is flexible when plans change, goes with the flow, and doesn't live by any rigid schedule.

And oh how I am enjoying him now.

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Speaking of rigid schedules, when the big one walks into our room at exactly.7:00.on the dot. every single day, including weekends, we sometimes send him to read or quietly watch T.V. while we sleep in lay there a little longer. Every Saturday he arrives in his robe, requests that we go nowhere all day so he doesn't  have to waste his day, and then later changes into his exact same Saturday outfit. He often makes a list of what he would like to do for the day and tapes it on the wall somewhere.

When I finally rolled out of bed Saturday morning, I was pleasantly surprised to see this:

They were watching the Dukes of Hazzard and {gasp} touching each other in a loving way leading me to believe we just might have a good day! It was a nice way to start our day.

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Today we got a March snowfall, and while everyone is certainly grumbling that they are so over it and ready for spring, I couldn't help but take in the beauty of the snowfall when I opened my curtains and looked out my bedroom window:

Naturally the picture doesn't do it justice, but every tree branch was coated with snow and it really was so beautiful. And, of course, with the higher temps and the snow being such a wet one, it won't last long anyway, so it was just a really nice gift in my opinion.