We are on the 7 week countdown until Emma gets here, and today I was resting and reflecting on my littles and amazed at how God has grown them, even in the past few weeks, and how He has prepared them to welcome their newest little addition soon.
Here’s a little update on my little high-flying airplane 🙂
Wow, I cannot believe all the HARD work this little boy has been doing! He is not just flying, he is SOARING into the sky! As I reflect on this past year of his life, he has learned SO much and has had so many transitions. In the past year, he has completed his first year of preschool at home with me, memorized and completed a whole year worth of AWANA verses in half a year, learned to swim quite a ways on his own, and lately, he’s grown tremendously emotionally and socially, starting official preschool. His teacher said he’s doing fantastic now!!! His wonderful teacher explained to me as he grows socially and emotionally and matures, the rest of the areas of academia that are harder for him will all of a sudden fall into place. I cannot say enough wonderful things about his teacher, but one of the things I love the most about her is that she loves to be a team with me. We put our heads together at Lewis’ first evaluation at preschool, about 2 weeks into it, and came up with a plan together. We implemented that plan and it worked BEAUTIFULLY. It was a grueling 3 weeks of holding the line for both of us, but we put forth strong hearts and helped Lewis move forward. We fostered a little separation from his “partner-in crime,” Hannah, and encouraged more time with kids his age and older. His tantrums are calming and are much fewer in number now. I remember the day that the few weeks of strong defiance broke into tears…and shortly after that, came willing compliance 🙂 We made it and he is really soaring now on his own.
I have loved seeing the teacher that the Lord hand-picked for Lewis. I have learned that Lewis LOVES structure and routine, that he needs very strict boundaries, and a FIRM, DETERMINED, but gentle and patient heart in teaching. I have always known he needs lots of praise and consistent love, patience, and gentleness…but it is the latter I have realized he needs more of from me. It is hard to always be present and focused and enforcing those boundaries, but he craves security within those boundaries and often still tests them to see how far he can go 🙂 He has a strong leader’s heart, is very passionate and determined in everything he does, is very busy and still can’t sit still for more than a few minutes, and often has so many dreams/visions, wishes and desires he’d like to pursue (which can translate into being a bit demanding at times), but he has learned that if he can listen, obey, be sweet and respectful, and patient and trustworthy that he will be given more trust and responsibility (and fun things to do!). This has really been working well for him 🙂
His HEART is what has always captured my heart and delight. Truly, this is the little boy I have always longed for and dreamed of!!! We were so happy to hear those words, “it’s a boy!” around 7 months pregnant (he hid well!). He has incredible infectious JOY, loves Jesus, is such a delight to us, is the LIFE of the family, has a VIVID imagination, has such a sweet and gentle, loving disposition toward me, a HUGE heart FULL of LOVE–towards his family and everyone, and a great desire to help others and give gifts. He loves to give so much of himself. He LOVES serving. He LOVES adventure and often cries when we come back from weekend trips. On our way back from Great Wolf Lodge, he shed quite a few tears and daddy and I reassured him that we would have another adventure really soon! Daddy is excited to go camping in the next few weeks, so we’re looking forward to trying that together before little Emma arrives. Lewis has a daddy’s heart and says he wants 21 kids now, instead of 10 🙂 I think as his comprehension of numbers increases, so will the children he wants 🙂 His friends right now are Xavier and Matthew. He consistently wants to be a chef when he grows up, but said he wants to be a chef for his family, not a restaurant 🙂 Our favorite activity to do together is cooking. I love my time with Lewis.
Some cute things he’s said and done recently:
* As we were going through the challenging phase of encouraging more independence with him, Lewis looked at me one day, very intently, and said “I’ll always be your baby forever mommy.” I teared up and sang to him “I love you forever, I like you for always, as long as I’m living, my baby you’ll be” and we cuddled. His heart was at peace going to sleep that night, knowing he’ll always have a special place in my heart as my first baby 🙂
* When asked by his teacher what he wonders about, Lewis said “I wonder about how God created all the earth.”
* One day, when he was eating peanut butter and honey, one of his favorite snacks, he said emphatically, “Let’s feed the whole world mommy, with peanut butter and honey!”
* “I want to be a missionary!”
* “I want to be a doctor and heal the whole world!”
* “I love babies mommy!” (He really is smitten over them and is drawn to them.)
* “I want to name Emma, EmmaLew!”
We’re so proud of you Lew! Keep soaring high into the sky!!! Let nothing damper your beautiful little spirit!
Walking in Faith 