Grateful

I thought I'd do a quick post this morning because I've got a lot on my mind. I have been thinking about my kids, Luke in particular. I took Luke to the doctor today because he had this strange lump on the back of his neck. I wasn't too worried (yet), but I definitely wanted to get it checked out. It turns out that his lymph nodes are very swollen (several of them) because of the massive mosquito bite(s) he got on the back of his head camping over the weekend. I neglected to put mosquito stuff on his actual scalp, and he got a huge bite. It looked like a half of a golf ball on Friday. Anyway, all is well and his body is just fighting off the effects of the bites. I'm so glad that it is nothing.

I thought a lot about Luke yesterday. Sometimes, I guess just because of my nature, I worry about him too much. I worry when he is timid and scared about doing something I know he can do, or when he doesn't want to try something new, or if he's not doing something I know other kids his age do...anyway, the conclusion I've come to is that I worry too much about the wrong things. Sometimes I'm so concerned about wishing he would do something he's not that I forget about all of the things he is awesome at. He is such a unique kid with a personality that's larger than life, and I wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. I guess the mom in me sometimes just wants to help him fit in or do better too much. I never wanted to be that pushy mom that compares her kids to others, but I find myself doing that sometimes. Sometimes being a mom is really hard and as much as I want to do a really good job I find myself messing things up a little.

Anyway, I just want both of my kids to know that I think they are the best and my family is the center of my little universe, and I wouldn't want it any other way. I don't usually get this personal on my blog, but I've been thinking about it a lot and it feels good to write it down. I just don't want to look back someday and realize that I didn't enjoy the amazing kid Luke is as much as I should have because I was too worried about making him be just like other kids. (I don't mean to make this sound like Luke is some weirdo because he's not. I'm probably the only one that knows what I mean here.) Just today his doctor was commenting on how bright and polite Luke is, and I couldn't agree more. So in honor of my quirky kid who I'm sometimes overly concerned about here are some of the very best things about Luke:
**Luke is sweet and affectionate. He still gives me tons of hugs and kisses and most of the time is so loving to his little brother.
**Luke is fun. He loves to play with his family and his friends, and he is always making us laugh. **Luke is smart. He has always had an amazing memory and loves to read books. He learns quickly and forgets nothing.
**Luke has lots of energy. He loves to run around and show off his rad moves to the family. He's always so proud of how big and strong he's getting and never passes up wrestling with Jer.
**Luke has a mind of his own. This one can be tough sometimes, but I'm glad that he's not a pushover. He is incredibly strong willed and I think that's a good trait in a lot of ways.
**He's inquisitive. Luke can ask questions and try to figure things out until he's blue in the face and my brain is dead. He wants to know every little detail about everything.
**Luke can be very cooperative. (This one is not a blanket statement.) What comes to mind most recently is his eye patch. Luke has to wear a patch on his eye 4 hours a day to try to strengthen his weaker eye. I was sad to find out at his last check-up that even with his glasses his vision right now would not be good enough for a driver's license. This patching and just getting older should help. He was really sad and didn't want to wear it the first day, but now he just puts it on like a trooper and does his thing. His friend Blake came over a few minutes ago and asked about it and Luke just looked at him like "duh" and told him it was to make his eye strong. Now they're off to fight bad guys in the basement.

Well, the list could go on, but I've got stuff to do. I feel better writing this out even if it made sense to no one but me. It really was just for my own good. I guess I just need to remind myself sometimes how good I have it! With all the time and tears it took to get my kids here, I think they are both miracles (really all kids are), and they are my joy. Okay, that's it for me, ever the sappy mom, I'm out.