I walked upstairs to check on the kids this afternoon and found them perched on stools in front of Oliver’s window. I had opened the window this morning to let the nice fall breeze in, and maybe it was that, or maybe it was the new pair of binoculars my Mom gave Oliver for his birthday, but they were very sweetly, very enthusiastically, “bird watching” side-by-side.
Next week Oliver will be seven years old.
Today, I encouraged him to take a little rest after his morning tutorial so he would have plenty of energy for his birthday sleepover (!!) tonight. He agreed that it was a good strategy, but he was having a tough time turning his excited mind off. So, I pulled a chair up next to his bunk bed and stood on it and scratched his back and ran my fingers through his hair. It felt so, so good to get to love on him and help him like that.
Right now Oliver loves Nerf guns – almost as much as he loves animals! He went to the zoo three times last week, and his must-see every time was the “unseen world” building with bugs and reptiles and amphibians in it.
He absolutely prefers a pair of his striped shorts to anything else I try to talk him into wearing. A solid shirt and striped shorts has been his uniform since it was warm enough to wear them this spring. Trying to find a decent cold-weather alternative :)
I read a book to him yesterday about how God loves us just exactly how we are. At the end of the book it asked the question, “is there anything about yourself that you do not like?” and I was so surprised to hear his answer – or that he had an answer at all! I loved learning that about him, and getting to tell him that God made him exactly that way on purpose.
Another time a couple of weeks ago he had a particularly difficult morning behaviorally. Not long after lunch he came to me quietly and asked if I would help him pray to ask Jesus to come back into his heart. It was such a sweet, powerful moment to look him in the eyes and tell him, “baby, we can pray for forgiveness, but Jesus didn’t go anywhere!” I’ll never forget the light in his eyes when he realized that Jesus wasn’t going to count him out because of anything he did wrong.
Sometimes, all the moments blur together and life feels overwhelming and motherhood makes me so weary. But when I pick the quiet, tender moments out of the blur and write them down, I remember that this is a sweet time with my babies. The next moment might be crazier than ever, but this moment, this is one I want to remember.
What are some moments you’ve had lately that you want to pick out of the blur and see as sweet and good?
That is so sweet! I’m so glad you’ve had such a sweet time with O this week. :)
I love this post – – I love how well you document these small reflections, I want to get better at that.
When I think, “oliver,” i think “striped shorts.” True story! Kind of like Andy’s lumberjack shirt… it’s just the Oliver staple, I think!!
xox!
you are the sweetest mama!
Such a sweet post! I love how you look to capture small, simple moments like these.
Last week was an especially hard week with my Kindergartener. A little trouble at school for not keeping our hands to ourselves gave some big life lessons for him and us.
We had great plans to do some fun things with him, but because of his trouble at school we chose not to. My husband had the epiphany that God probably has “big” and exciting plans waiting for us, but because of our selfishness and own plans we miss out on them too. So thankful for the many ways we can show our children just how important Jesus is in the good moments, but maybe even more so, in the bad.
I LOVE your answer to him… “but Jesus didn’t go anywhere!” How very, very reassuring, and what a sweet peace all of us Christians can enjoy, no matter our age!
This post made me cry (the end part). Your boy sounds so sweet.