People tell me I need to blog more. Well, here's the deal: I can only blog when Duke is asleep; I have a relatively decent handle on my house work, meal plans and laundry; have had some time pulling myself together in the WORD; no phone calls to return or other misc. jobs, AND I am not desperately in need of a nap myself...SO basically when the moon and stars line up perfectly and Jupiter is the right shade of purple, I might sit down to blog. Hence, the fact that it has been six months (almost to the day) since my last entry.
So much has happened in the last 6 months. Reffing season has begun and ended, Glory to God on high; I am in a intensive study that I am really enjoying on Philippians; and our baby has turned into Curious George in the flesh. We have also found ourselves very much at home and involved at University Baptist Church here in Abilene. We have made friends with several sweet families at our church home, many of which have children close to Duke's age; this has been such a blessing to us! What a relief it is to know you are normal, right?! Or at least that there is a lovely group of people who are just as insane as us! I cannot even put to words what our new support group of young families has meant to us. Like, when I hear something crash, there is a decent chance that it was another kid; why is that so nice? I don't know, it just is. Or when I bring my kid to life group with Desiten still greased in his hair (despite the 7 times washing it, including a concoction of baking soda and vinegar) I know that he will be a joyful conversation piece (and I did say joyful not judgemental ;) !). Then there was last Sunday when somehow, we only made it to church with one shoe on Duke's feet. We searched everywhere in the car and then I said, "aw, how cares? Let's go into church." Duke loves any chance to play with UBC kids or our other set of friends, which brings me to another blessing in our lives. Duke and I have recently made friends with several mom and tot pairs from our gymnastics class. This has been so wonderful to have! Each of his buddies are so precious and well mannered! Two of the families live in our own neighborhood even! How much greater could it get? I have LOVED getting to know them and their wise mommies! We have also started going to the Library for story time with some of these treasured friends. Duke is greatest attribute is his kindness. He loves to make people feel at home in our house; usually be bringing guests one of his toys after another, until their laps are spilling over with toys. He has a great sense of humor; he enjoys nothing more than making others crack up and having a good laugh himself. He laughs SO hard, using all his strength! His laugh is my most favorite sound in the world; it brightens my day and makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world! How truly blessed we are!
Speaking of Gymnastics, some times I wish we could just move in for the next year at least. Duke and I would fit right in the Family Circus cartoons. In fact, some days I would swear that we don't just fit in, we took up residence and have our name on the mail box and our welcome mat at their front door. Since this summer, I have called poison control 3 times and 9-11 once. That's right, full blown ambulance and fire truck in our front yard. Thank you Duke, my resident savage. I can't even believe that his friends are allowed to come over, much less be baby sat by Miss Katie. I can't even believe I used to do this for a living! There are so many times I would have fired myself at being a nanny, only I can't because I am the MOM! My son goes no where with more than one shoe on his feet and usually no socks. Upon reaching our destination I have to dig through the car to find everything he has thrown from his car seat. He is doing great at potty training, but that is mostly because I let him pee off the back porch which he thinks is just splendid; it's almost as great as convincing me to pull over and let him take a leak in a parking lot, begging the Lord to make me invisible the entire time. Yes, we have been known to do that too. Day before yesterday after his bath he went to the potty and tinkled like a big boy; next he ran to the dirty clothes cabinet, pulled all the laundry out and then pooped looking out the top of the laundry bin the whole time. He immediately moved to the opposite corner and said quietly (as if our bathroom was full of people) "poop." I said, "Oh, you need to sit on the potty?! Great job telling me..." opening the door to find that he was simply notifying me of the past rather than the future. Bummer. Another time, he dumped a bottle of liquid all over the floor (part of his strategy to keep me busy). While I was busy cleaning it up, he hopped up on the couch, took off his diaper and watched himself pee on the couch. He has also been known to attempt to change his own DIRTY diaper. Mommy's little helper.
I got Duke and Daddy foam swords from the dollar store for Christmas; they are great fun for everyone. But Mr. Creative (Duke, not Daniel) uses his swords in his spare time to knock the pictures off the walls. Rascal. But what a delight it is to watch his face as he soaks in something new, or as he concentrates to work a puzzle! He loves, loves, LOVES to read books and I enjoy the chance to actually be still in his presence and especially have him in my lap. He enjoys helping cooking, so long as it is a short cooking project. He would rather run anywhere than think even think of walking. But he is getting refined, because recently he has discovered a love for hot (well, warm) tea sweetened with honey. Well, I am a smart cookie and went out and bought the Decker's a economy family size of sleepy time tea. I am moderately convinced that it works too! I love hot tea myself, and since Daniel is not a "hot tea kinda guy" I am delighted to have tea time with my little boy.
Daniel came home one day to find his wife a psycho-path, so he took Duke to his room to play and gave me 30 minutes in my room, door shut, with Divine Design and some wonderfully hot tea. After my break, Duke was sitting on my lap being so affectionate, cute and sweet. He held my head and looked into my eyes. The thought went sweetly through my head: You precious angel, how could I ever be frustrated or impatient with you? Just then Duke reared his head back and head butted my forehead. Not being mean, mind you, just being a rambuctuous boy. That almost sent me packing back to my room for another 30 min. regroup. Gone are the days where daily goals for Duke were perfect nutrition, adequate sleep and stimulation for his neurological development and as much time as possible holding him and soaking up every possible second of cradling my baby. Suddenly, and surprisingly subtlely, everything turned to suicide watch! Like I said, three calls to poison control and one to 9-11. If some one were to ask why I could spend the entire day working at home and by the end of the day have no clean clothes, no hot meal, and no fixed hair; and a sink full of dishes my answer would be two words: suicide watch. Duke keeps me busy keeping him from destroying something or himself! He lives in a climbing up and jumping off continuing cycle; once one ends, the other begins. He loves life, and he loves being a boy and acting like one. He also loves tasting anything and everything except if it's something on a plate or if it resembles fresh food...never can be too sure about food that landed on a plate recently, you know. Also, you know you are a mother of a toddler when you have a shelf in your house devoted to things (yours and others') that need to be glued back together. Oh, and speaking of shelves, I have a shelf that I have to stretch to reach. It is about six feet off the ground, baby proof enough for ya? You'd think that would be out of Duke's reach. Well, how lucky he is monkey, because he can climb his changing table, stretch his arms and reach that shelf. Yes, that is the one with the Vaseline, desiten, and baby powder. What a fun activity, baby powder yourself and your entire room! Then mark your trail down the hall; and all during "nap time." Wo0-wwho!
Oh, what a rascal! And what a huge amount crazy stories I could tell you! But mostly, over the last six months the Lord has shown me that I just need to have a sense of humor about this stage in my sweetie's life. He is, in the flesh, my answered prayer. No person on the planet has brought me more joy...or insanity than Mr. Duke Decker. Every night when we say our bed time prayers, I ask God to "help Duke obey Mommy and Daddy." But the Lord never, EVER, not once even, let's me leave it at that. He always moves in my heart like crazy until I utter the words, "and help mommy to obey God." How could I have ever imagined all the lessons I would learn through raising a little boy for God's kingdom? Obedience is a tricky thing. I have to remind myself that behavior modification is not and will not be my ultimate goal. I have said this before and I'll say it again, raising him to honor and obey God is my ultimate goal; God help me. Thank you God, for a sweet man to parent my children with and for the unending joy of being some one's mother. I have promised myself, that I will not complain for the inevitable trials that come attached to this honored title of "Mommy." :D Life is a joy. Thank you God for gracing us with Your good gifts. I love you Daniel and Duke, with all my heart.
